I\'ve been focusing on multimedia applications and I\'ve noticed that most appli

Question

I've been focusing on multimedia applications and I've noticed that most applications don't use Java in the back end. Instead, I see solutions with PHP/ROR/Python and Flash/Silverlight without any trace of Java in the application stack.

What part of Java is either limiting or constrained - or perceived as limiting or constrained - when building multimedia applications?

Let me clarify, when I said Java, I meant Java EE. Of course on the client side people will use flash or html5 for audio/video. But what I am trying is that, why is most multimedia platforms backend is created with PHP/ROR/Python(Django)? There are many audio distribution platforms out there. soundcloud.com (uses go lang), tunrtable.fm (uses Python) youtube.com (uses PHP), is Java EE not capable of doing those?

Explanation / Answer

I think all you have to do is look at the industry all around and you'll see the same pattern. PHP, Ruby, and Python are the preferred languages these days for building web applications. This is largely due to their interpreted nature and low barrier to entry (compared to Java) making development fast, easy, and cheap. This makes it ideal for somebody to hit the ground running when they have an idea.

Java EE is absolutely capable of handling the same tasks as any of those languages, whether the application is multi-media or otherwise. Java however, is compiled, verbose, and expensive (developers). This makes it not an ideal solution that everybody runs to when they want to rapidly prototype something. Java's limelight has been in the enterprise where companies are willing to shell out hundreds of thousands for developers, who quite honestly, are *usually better trained than the majority of PHP devs.

*= That's not to say that PHP devs are untrained, but rather by sheer numbers and barrier to entry means you'll encounter a lot MORE untrained/undertrained PHP programmers that you have to weed through. (Source: the last company I worked at was looking for an additional full time PHP dev. We interviewed a lot of amateurs.)

Related Questions

Navigate

• Browse (All)
• Browse I
• Subjects

Integrity-first tutoring: explanations and feedback only — we do not complete graded work. Learn more.