CWP-547 The Java and C++ platforms for scientific computing

Scientific computing is evolving beyond array processing to be more interac-tive, more graphical, more parallel, and less structured than it was when most scientific software was written. Languages such as C++ and Java, designed for object-oriented and generic programming, enhance the development of new data structures and algorithms that are part of this evolution. But these languages complicate mixed-language programming. It is today more difficult than ever before to use software components developed for one lan-guage with another. The languages Java and C++ and their respective libraries and tools represent distinct software platforms that are incompatible. We must choose one or the other, and I favor the Java platform. Key words: software development, scientific computing