Last modified: 2011-03-13 18:04:26 UTC
Wikipedia should allow a disambiguated page, such as Java (programming language) to specify the ideal (or natural) title for the page. In this example, that would be Java. Then, when someone links to Java (programming language) without piping, it will automatically pipe in Java. e.g. [[Java (programming language)]] becomes [[Java (programming language)|Java]]. [[Java (programming language)|a popular OOP language]] would be unchanged. Usually the ideal title would be the title without parentheses, but not necessarily.
I don't think it's a good idea, because one may want to link to the page using the exact page title, and this behavior is incompatible to that, incompatible to the current behavior, and confusing. Also, it's already exist if you use [[Java (programming language)|]] (with "|" in the end), which becomes [[Java (programming language)|Java]] before saving.
Your second reason is better than your first. :) You could still link to the page title explicitly by piping (and you wouldn't need to do so often). However, I was unaware of the blank pipe trick you just noted. Thanks! As I said, not every title fits that form, but exceptions are rare enough to be dealt with manually.