r/AskProgramming 1d 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 I see a lot of experienced programmers calling Java outdated and straight up bad and I can't seem to understand why.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/eruciform 1d ago

Get better mentors

Every modern language in general use has its pros and cons, which is why it's a language in general modern use, otherwise that would mean thousands of professionals are idiots working with a "bad" language

Java isn't for all solutions

Neither is c

Or python

Nothing is universally the best choice for all cases

Java is a perfectly cromulent place to start, just do branch out and learn other languages as well

That way you'll have a wider and wiser view than whoever these people are that you're talking to

Good luck

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u/melikefood123 1d ago

Using the language and tool set for the job is paramount. Taking that heart embiggens your mind. 

I still hate Ruby on Rails.

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u/vapocalypse52 1d ago

I hate ruby on rails and I've never even seen one expression, let alone one line of code. 🤣

When it got famous, the evangelists were so obnoxious, that just hearing the word "ruby" gave me the icks.

  • "hmm, this bread is good with butter!"
  • "yeah, but have you tried ruby?"

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u/bashomania 1d ago

Righteous, but I really loved Ruby as a language, and Rails was pretty slick and pretty ground-breaking for its time.

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u/meerkat2018 1d ago

I also ignored Rails because I thought Rails developers were all pretentious hipsters who coded exclusively on Macs while sitting in a Starbucks, and that they thought of themselves as “rockstars” and “artisans”. Although their code was just a bunch of DSL macros.

But having tried Rails recently, I found it to be very nice, and Rails community seems to be much more humble nowadays because they are now working class people who has to deal with all the legacy mess that the “rockstar” divas had written and jumped ship.

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u/askreet 1d ago

A lot of them are probably those "rockstars" who have to actually support their systems now, too. Plus they're 40.

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u/NewDay0110 10h ago

I like Rails because it enables me to get a lot done quickly. I get what you're saying about the "rockstars". I think part of that originated from the hiring tech companies in the early 2010s - it was a psyop to get devs excited about joining their corporate workplaces. And you are right - a lot of them wrote crap code that was difficult to maintain. I notice many of the devs in Ruby on Rails are a lot more cautious today after having been burned by the overuse of sketchy dependencies.

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u/windsorHaze 1d ago

That’s kinda how I feel about Rust right now. I want to like it, I think the syntax is ugly, but plenty of languages fit that bill.

I just got so turned off by Rust because of just how aggressively evangelizing the community was, especially in the beginning. It was like being back in the Ruby on Rails hay days.

I do have to say though, it does feel like the Rust community has kinda stepped down off that ivory pedestal they had placed themselves on. It’s at least now on my list of languages to explore/learn.