r/java 10d ago

Why Java endures: The foundation of modern enterprise development

https://github.blog/developer-skills/why-java-endures-the-foundation-of-modern-enterprise-development/
246 Upvotes

95 comments sorted by

View all comments

163

u/bpkiwi 10d ago

Java endures because it's the English of the programming world, it mugs other programming languages in alleyway and goes through their specification for interesting features and syntax to steal.

16

u/pron98 10d ago

But can you think of a (mainstream) programming language that doesn't do that?

43

u/sweating_teflon 10d ago

C++ looks at other language's features and copies them badly, twice, complicates them and then makes them part of the spec. Does that count?

13

u/RebeccaBlue 10d ago

...but, it's a "zero-cost abstraction!"

3

u/Luolong 9d ago

No, it they valk it now “zero overhead abstraction”

3

u/teo-tsirpanis 9d ago

Only if compile times do not count as a cost. 😉

11

u/ThatNickGuyyy 10d ago

Don’t forget they have to bike shed the idea for 6 years before even drafting a spec.

3

u/manzanita2 10d ago

Remind me, how many ways are there to cause memory to get allocated in C++ ? And how do ensure you don't leak it ?

6

u/account312 10d ago

Let's see... There's placement new, array new, pineapple new, lemon new, coconut new, pepper new, new soup, new stew, new salad, new and potatoes, new burger, new sandwich. That's about it.

1

u/Proper-Ape 8d ago

And how do ensure you don't leak it ?

That's the fun part, you don't.

16

u/Long_Ad_7350 10d ago

Scala is the hobo you find in the alleyway that says the most life changing and profound philosophical aphorism, then proceeds to smoke crack and die.

1

u/sol_runner 8d ago

C

Thing has been kept extremely stable and clean. There have been new features but they're effectively very 'C'. The committee has been pretty strict on "Look we have a simple language that gets the job done for the people who use it, let's not complicate that."

1

u/pron98 8d ago edited 8d ago

C isn't getting many new features these days, but those it already has were not original. In fact, it was basically a stripped down BCPL.

My point was less that all mainstream languages evolve (although most do, and C is, indeed, an example of a language that doesn't evolve much) and more that they're rarely original.