Java, Perl, etc.

[matthew_heusser at mcgraw-hill.com]

>They're going to try their hand at our Intranet as a test case

<OPINION type="not too controversial (I think)">
Why not shoot for some metrics?  Executives (especially engineers)
seem to love metrics.

Take a small, but non-trivial web project connecting a database to a
web front-end.  Have the java guys estimate how long it would take them
to write in EJB or whatever.  Do you own estimates with CGI,DBI,Perl, etc.

Compare numbers.  You'll probably win.

If they get obstinate, then I'd suggest having both teams actually _do_
the project.(1)  That will give you some effort/time estimates for equivilant
applications.

But, then again, that would be pushing your shop toward one general-purpose
language, and that's like, all bad and stuff.


</OPINION>

Matt H.

(1) - If your company is insistent on picking a "best" programming langauge,
but too busy to invest 24 man-hours of research into the decision ... there's
a problem.