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Java Future and what does this mean for you¶

From what I’ve written I come to the conclusion that Java is not dead. It’s not fundamentally flawed, it still meets it’s goal, there is interest in Java, no really clear successor has emerged, the platform evolves, the JVM shines, new languages flourish and new projects are started in Java.

But just because Java is not dead doesn’t mean it has a future. Developers need to open their eyes and learn new languages. I’m really disappointed in interviews when candidates show no interest in programming beside Java. So for you as a developer: no worries. As a student: You still need to learn Java to have a high probability to get a job – with the conditions you like. For you as a manager or CTO: have a plan ready for when the Java era ends.

It’s too early for a requiem. But if Java dies, what can we learn? Before and foremost one needs to learn from Javas success and eventual decline. The points I’ve written about, wrong concepts, enterprise pain points and what Java did right need to be remembered.

Is Java dead because no-one talks about it anymore?¶

Thanks for bearing with me through this long post, we now come to an end. Jitter about Java has significantly gone down. My blogging on Java has gone done. My twittering on Java has gone down. Some years ago everyone was talking about Java, now it’s mainly enthusiasts. Java is a none-hype. It’s not as bad as COBOL, but a lot like C and C++. Is a language dead when none talks about it anymore? You decide. In the end the only question that really matters: Is Java dead for me? Would I start a project in Java? I would have in 2008. Would I in 2009? Probably not, I’d use Scala.

http://www.scala-lang.org/

http://www.scala-lang.org/node/25

Scala is a general purpose programming language designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way. It smoothly integrates features of object-oriented and functional languages, enabling Java and other programmers to be more productive. Code sizes are typically reduced by a factor of two to three when compared to an equivalent Java application.

Many existing companies who depend on Java for business critical applications are turning to Scala to boost their development productivity, applications scalability and overall reliability.

For example, at Twitter, the social networking service, Robey Pointer moved their core message queue from Ruby to Scala. This change was driven by the companies need to reliably scale their operation to meet fast growing Tweet rates, already reaching 5000 per minute during the Obama Inauguration. Robeys thinking behind the Twitter Kestrel project is explained in the developers live journal. His concise 1500 lines of Scala code can be seen as he has generously made them available as an open source project.

Many top-notch programmers and industry leaders have already been captivated by Scala. They have become quite vocal encouraging others, creating a growing range of books on Scala and an almost endless supply of tips for Java programmers new to Scala, some of which are collected in "Java to Scala with the help of experts". While here on the scala-lang site, there is a broad range of material too, from introductory Scala tutorials to advanced language research topics, or look at some Scala code examples, or just get started by installing Scala now.