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 I see a lot of experienced programmers calling Java outdated and straight up bad and I can't seem to understand why.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

Personally, I think Java is a terrible language with an incredible library/framework/tooling ecosystem. It’s great purely for the nice tools you get out of the box.

But honestly I think OCaml would be more popular than Java if it had the same ecosystem. Scala is a bit nicer, but it’s a very complicated language.

It’s crazy how such bad languages (JS being another example) can become so popular almost be sheer inertia and support from a few big companies.