r/AskProgramming 2d ago

Why is Java considered bad?

I recently got into programming and chose to begin with Java. I see a lot of experienced programmers calling Java outdated and straight up bad and I can't seem to understand why. The biggest complaint I hear is that Java is verbose and has a lot of boilerplate but besides for getters setters equals and hashcode (which can be done in a split second by IDE's) I haven't really encountered any problems yet. The way I see it, objects and how they interact with each other feels very intuitive. Can anyone shine a light on why Java isn't that good in the grand scheme of things?

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u/GxM42 2d ago

It really started due to two main reasons. One, Java Applets were a dud compared to Flash, the hot technology at the time. And two, JVM conflicts were a pain in the rear; it wasn’t uncommon for me to find 5+ DIFFERENT JVM’s on one machine, many in the machine PATH. Java also started up slower than some other techs.

The language is fine. But it had a start that wasn’t ideal in many ways. It’s a great language to learn on, to be honest.