Just started  reading the  book "Better, Faster, Lighter Java" by Bruce A. Tate and Justin Gehtland from O'Rielly and Associates. Looks promising. Very refreshing to see someone address the side effects of the effect of the breakneck speed  of the evolution of modern languages has on programming. The authors start with the cataclysmic  statement "Java development is in crisis." A bit dramatic, but it does draw the  attention. I have gone through the first  two chapters, and though it makes very interesting reading, I haven't read anything that I didn't already know. But there are a lot of promises in the book. Let us see how it goes.

It definitely addresses a lot of things that all of us take for granted while programming, without questioning the rationale. One of the interesting observations the authors make got me thinking. In the introductory chapter, the authors pose the question - "Java is just now surpassing COBOL as the most-used language in the world, begging the question, 'Do you want to be the COBOL developer of the 21st century?"

The main point of the whole chapter is to recognize the reasons for bloat and how to tackle it. Several cliches have been used, but I have found they make the reading more interesting than distracting the reader from the issues at hand.

More later ...