Date:         Mon, 5 Mar 2001 13:47:10 -0500
Reply-To:     "David L. Ward" <dward@INTERNEXT-INC.COM>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         "David L. Ward" <dward@INTERNEXT-INC.COM>
Subject:      Re: JAVA replacing SAS? and J2EE...
Comments: cc: Jonathan Goldberg <jonathan@MATLOCK.WUSTL.EDU>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

>>The poster below raises what is for me a personal issue.
I have so far managed to avoid learning both SAS and JAVA.  But I
have just started a new job at a shop with a fairly large investment
in AF/SCL code.  So, I assumed that I would have to go ahead an learn
SCL.
Now it is suggested that SCL is being replaced by JAVA.  Is it best to
skip SCL as far as possible and go straight to JAVA?  What does that
cost me in the near term?
I need to plan training soon.  I have two co-workers who are also facing
a similar decision.  Any thoughts as to what is best to do?
Jonathan


In my humble opinion,
  In the long term Java will be a better investment.  In the short term, if
your shop already has an investment in AF apps that need to be maintained or
built upon, you may want to learn AF.  One thing I forgot to mention in my
original post is that SCL v8 is starting to look and feel like Java.  The
way classes and methods are used, the way they are defined, the syntax, ...
If we have one more release of SCL I'll bet it will be some kind of SCL/Java
hybrid.  So learning AF would definitely not be a waste because much of your
knowlege (and possibly even code) can be translated into the Java world.

Good luck with your decision,
David Ward

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President
InterNext, Inc.
Software for the Internet Generation
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