The path of Windows programmers who work with Java and those who work in other languages is beginning to fork, according to a recent industry survey.
Evans Marketing Services, a Santa Cruz, California-based research firm, canvassed 305 Windows developers -- 45 percent of them working primarily with Java -- about Java and how it compares to other programming languages. Among other things, the survey revealed the intense loyalty of Java programmers, despite the perpetual turmoil swirling around the language.
Java programmers, the survey concluded, are likelier to be concerned with broader industry-standards issues than their non-Java colleagues.
The survey found Java developers are also more likely to be involved in multi-tiered projects, often with middleware components. Generally speaking, according to Janel Garvin, director of research at Evans Marketing, the responses from Java programmers indicate that they take a more complex approach to technology projects.
"Our surveys are typically more geared to attitudes than the usage-type surveys you often see," Garvin said. "The opinions of Java users just seemed more sophisticated."
The survey also concluded that Java users were more determined to be loyal to the language than, say, C++ users are to theirs.
"Java developers are getting religion," says Garvin. "They say they're much more [committed] to Java than we thought." says Garvin. The 130-page survey, conducted in March, was designed for tools vendors who want to gauge Windows programmer opinions on a variety of technology topics.
