As you know, I am going to school for a masters in software engineering. One of the classes I am taking this semester is Human Computer Interactions. A very social-sciency type of subject. Tonight's lecture topic was software tools. Programs that create other programs. This relates back to HCI, because these types of programs aid the developers in crafting the software. The lecture was just a categorization of the various types available.

This topic is a virtual grenade for software developers. Ask ten different software developers their favorite editor and you may get ten different answers. Ask them their preferred language and get a myriad of names. Ask them favorite platform and watch the whole thing explode in your face.

Tonight, the instuctor let slip that Java was faster than Visual Basic. I ran for cover. I was expecting a total flame war to break out, live in class. It happened.

We have a mix of developers in class. There are the web services folks, me the embedded systems guy, a lady who has to do COBOL, a Java dude and a few MS developers. One in particular has been a consultant/programmer on the MS Windows platform for about 15 years. He knows his Windows stuff and had to respond back to the Java versus VB jab. The Java dude had to respond back. I think if the instructor was not a woman it would've gotten ugly real fast. I, being a MacAddict, stayed out of this fight. Everyone knows that Macs rule.

Tempers simmered, and we ended up agreeing to disagree. That is the best tact.

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