No silver bullets? (was Re: Could Python supplant Java?)

[Peter Hansen]

"James J. Besemer" wrote:
> 
> If you disagree, Read Fred Brooks' "No Silver Bullet":
> 
>     http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/SoftwareEngineering/BrooksNoSilverBullet.html
> 
> He's smarter and wiser even than me.

That may be, but I think he's out of date.  I believe there are potential silver 
bullets(*) these days, although the measurements are still arriving so it's not
possible to draw firm conclusions just yet.  In fact, some of us plan to avoid 
drawing firm conclusions until we've milked them for all they're worth, since
it's a nice competitive advantage for us. :)

* Silver bullet defined as that which can deliver an order-of-magnitude improvement
in productivity, reliability, and simplicity, per comments I saw in the linked 
article:
http://www.virtualschool.edu/mon/SoftwareEngineering/BrooksNoSilverBullet.html

-Peter