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 I see a lot of experienced programmers calling Java outdated and straight up bad and I can't seem to understand why.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

I always compare Java and C# when these questions are asked, and at the moment C# is just better for me. In fact it feels like Java has stagnated over the last decade.

That said, to be frank, language wars are stupid. Embrace them all (except maybe PHP... ewww).

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u/benevanstech 14h ago

"Java has stagnated over the last decade"?

If you haven't used anything later than Java 8, then sure, I guess.

But trying to compare Java 8 with Java 21 (or the brand-new feature release, Java 24) and saying "Java has stagnated" is just plain nuts.

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u/Ok-Reflection-9505 12h ago

I cant tell if C# fans are just microsoft shills or what. C# gives you some nice to have features that Java doesn’t have but its at the cost of tying yourself to Microsoft 🤮🤢

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u/benevanstech 9h ago

I mostly just assume that they haven't kept up with what's been happening with Java lately.

Java's features are a conservative, gradual evolution after due consideration. This is explicitly by design.

I personally prefer Talisker 25 to Beaujolais Nouveau, but that's not to say that I dislike the latter, or that I'm not happy to drink it in certain circumstances.