Brad Cox: Misusing Dynamic Binding...

Brad Cox: Misusing Dynamic Binding When Static Binding Would Do, Part 2

"This is not a condemnation of dynamic binding, which can be invaluable when used appropriately. Many problems can only be solved with dynamic binding.

Rather this is a condemnation of those who use it inappropriately for problems that can be solved more straightforwardly, productively, and efficiently with static alternatives."

Brad Cox, the father of Objective-C, which ironically is a superset of the C language that adds dynamic binding, has a lot of good points to make about the benefits of static binding and why the use of dynamic binding needs to be rationalized.

I especially loved the way he trashed the blatant over-use of XML files for configuring just about everything these days. You can't run a servlet or a JSP page or just about anything from the mainstream open-source-java-world without drowning yourself in XML-ized config files.

Written on December 1, 2001