Eclipse launches new language to cut down Java boilerplate - Extend
<i>Parenthesis for method invocations are optional, if the method does not take any arguments.<p>obj.compute instead of obj.compute()</i><p>That seems silly. The optional semicolons also irritate me.<p>-----------------
(Added)<p>I imagine a committee of Java developers, in a penthouse boardroom at Oracle, meeting with management to discuss Java's descent into disuse.<p>"Lets make Java more concise," suggests a senior developer.<p>"Yes! Lets get rid of the parenthesis like Ruby!"<p>"And the semicolons like Javascript."<p>All falls silent. Everyone stares at the programmer.<p>"But... But..." stammers an important board member. "I thought we needed those."<p>"We could make them optional."<p>"Yeah, we'll be multi-paradimatic like Perl!"<p>And so Extend was born. A cargo cult at its best.