Presentation: Tweet"Keynote: C++, Java and .NET: Lessons learned from the Internet Age, and What it Means for the Cloud and Emerging Languages"

Java's appearance at the dawn of the Internet Age helped to propel it to near-instant prominence, and lodged cross-platform virtual machines and garbage-collection firmly into our mainstream consciousness.

Did Java have an evolutionary advantage over C++, or was it simply propelled by the “dot-com bubble”?

In retrospect, what were the actual efficiency advantages provided by the new platform and language, and were they sufficient to give it significant comparative advantage in the emerging class of web and enterprise applications?

And despite the grip that these languages exerted on "enterprise" applications, how did scripting languages such as PHP, Python and Perl manage to thrive and multiply?

Looking forward, what do these lessons teach us about the applicability of technology to emerging challenges and environments such as Cloud Computing, and what language capabilities will be necessary in this new age of software as a result?