Can Java learn from python when it comes to library design?

When it comes to the language wars, I eventually came to realize that productivity in a language is driven first by the library that comes with the language (if any) and second by the IDE’s that are available for that language.

One thing that makes python great is that they integrate a lot of useful stuff right into the core library. Java, unfortunately, hasn’t done a great job of following this lead. For example, they don’t provide a way to encode a Base64 string by default. When I use my IDE to search for classes with the name Base64, I get a rather amusing list of re-re-implementations and copies of the same class, all because the Java library maintainers are unable or unwilling to put this common functionality into the library.

Anyway, when I saw this, I thought “Java could really learn a few things from python about having a feature rich standard library …”

Why are spam emails so weird?

Spammers are really in two businesses – one is selling viagra (or whatever) and the other is selling email addresses.  If they can send an email which confirms that the mailbox leads to a live person they can sell it.

For many older mail clients, opening a spam email is enough – spammers can put an invisible image in the message which calls back to their servers and confirms your email is good.

Now, if you click on the link in the message, you might even buy some cheap penis enhancement products or sexual dysfunction cures.  Apparently there are hordes of people doing this, which I find to be scary.  But then again, Bush got elected TWICE, which is just and scary, for the same reasons.  Maybe these are the same people.