That last post was too long. The discussion around pesudoprogramming is too complex to contain in a single post, or a single essay of any form. I feel it utterly fails to clarify anything, because it is built on so many other axioms which have not been clearly stated.

I was challenged by someone on the stance that use of tag-language in a JSP was less powerful, less convenient than just sticking to Java. So it is me against him, can I find some third person support for either position? I searched the web. The ONLY mention of tag libraries were from people promoting those tag libraries. They always include a page of reasons why the tag library is superior. Many "reasons" are unsupported assumptions about being better. Other reasons unfairly compare a very poor Java example to a tag; the Java could be written much better and it would be a better comparison. Most of the arguments don't hold water.

I was thinking, *somebody* must have done an unbiased comparison of using tag-language or sticking to pure Java. No matter how I searched, I could not find any evidence of a careful controlled study comparing the two approaches. Then I realized that the flaw is my assumption that there would be a such a study.

Who would do such a study? If you like tag-language, you are motivated to write a page expousing the benefits of tag-language. But if you don't like tag-language, you pretty much just ignore them. It is reasonable to assume that tag-language works in a particular domain of the programming space, and those who like it are in that domain, and those who do not are in a different domain.

Who am I, then, to rain on sombody's parade simply because tag-language is not useful for my purpose? I am a system architect and must set the direction for many people, some of whom are less experienced. These programmers are trying their best to do a good job, so they see the arguments and are persuaded. I guess what really bugs me is that the arguments are fallacious, and nobody corrects them! Only one side is presented, so people do not dig to see the what the truth should be, they simply accept the arguments.

I guess I am not done with this subject. I will have to address each argument for tag-language, and see if it holds up to scrutiny.