Java JDK 9 Sees Its First Release Candidate

[mcloud]

I have been using Java for writing desktop applications since it's first public release around 1995/6, and with each new release I think the new features may be marginally useful, then usually find that they are very useful. Every couple of years I try a different language for a new project, like Google's Go or Gnome's Vala, and investigate other languages like Ruby, Kotlin and Rust, but I always drift back to Java. Currently I am using OpenJDK 8 and JavaFX, so should I assume the delay in Oracle's Java 9 will impact the release of OpenJDK 9 for Linux?

I know that some people think Java is too wordy, but I find that with the long variable and method names traditional in Java, I can very quickly pick up code that I wrote 20 years ago and work on it again.

Actually, the Oracle JDK is build upon Open JDK since Java 8

[caligula]

In other words: "well-written code is easy to understand".

I've seen way too many Java programs written like shit or using frameworks where the method names meant little to anyone that wasn't the framework developer. I can assure you that forcing people to be wordy is not a sure way to get decent code.

One big problem with Java applications is also that people tend to care very little about building bloaty abstractions on abstractions. It's really easy to lose yourself in the sea of abstractions where there are classes and patterns for everything. Java fails pretty hard in simple things. The primitive types are limited and expressing even simple things like a group of values (tuple) is impossible without introducing a new class for each use case. TBH, it's hard to design it right. Even Scala got many things wrong. The Scala 2.0 seems quite promising. Even with all the flaws, it will be better than Java or C#.

[jbysmith]

You could also try other JVM languages. There are tons of better languages, Scala and Clojure, just to name a few. ScalaFX is a lot more usable than JavaFX.

Definitely need to give Kotlin a whirl, JetBrains is putting a lot of effort into it and it's actually quite good. Doesn't hurt that they also make a killer IDE to go with it.

[woprandi]

The only times I use Java is when I code for Android. I might change to Kotlin though (which runs on the JVM though) since Google is starting to support that.

Personally I like .NET Core much more than Java.

I started migrate my Android code from Java to Kotlin. It's much better

[bug77]

I have been using Java for writing desktop applications since it's first public release around 1995/6, and with each new release I think the new features may be marginally useful, then usually find that they are very useful. Every couple of years I try a different language for a new project, like Google's Go or Gnome's Vala, and investigate other languages like Ruby, Kotlin and Rust, but I always drift back to Java. Currently I am using OpenJDK 8 and JavaFX, so should I assume the delay in Oracle's Java 9 will impact the release of OpenJDK 9 for Linux?

I know that some people think Java is too wordy, but I find that with the long variable and method names traditional in Java, I can very quickly pick up code that I wrote 20 years ago and work on it again.

Oracle's JDK is built strictly on top of OpenJDK. They've been delayed to September together.

I've also been wielding Java since 1.1 and done UIs in everything since AWT. I have this thing about showing my work in an approachable and helpful way, so that makes me a bit of a GUI freak. But today the desktop is becoming increasingly more irrelevant, because everything must be reinvented in the browser and in the cloud...

[adila01]

Michael, it would be great if we saw some benchmarks with the latest release. Hopefully, there were performance improvements.

[bug77]

Michael, it would be great if we saw some benchmarks with the latest release. Hopefully, there were performance improvements.

Other than changing the default garbage collector, there's little in the way of performance improvement in version 9. Looking for regressions would be nice, but RC1 may be a little early for that.

[Ignatiamus]

Java is like a virus and for idiots that do memory leaks etc.

Stay factual! I don't think that we Java developers actually are idiots doing memory leaks :-)

When it came in 90s, it took markets from C++ and we had slowly working software.

I have to admit that Java was slower in its early stages of development, but it really has come to age now! Hardware got better, there is the Just-in-time compiler (JIT) and other optimizations like Java HotSpot etc. Only when it comes to solely calculations, C++ can be up to 20% faster (that's why you don't make a raytracer in Java)
So nowadays, when C++ developers are still fiddling around with pointers, you can already show a first prototype in Java (kind of) ;-)


Cheers

[bug77]

Java is like a virus and for idiots that do memory leaks etc. When it came in 90s, it took markets from C++ and we had slowly working software. Today we have android with its java implementation and do have poor games although mobile phone hardware is very powerful. Android is a big mistake, Debian testing Xfce does have better software architecture with its debian packaging and rolling release nature. With Android you need to flash a new firmware or buy a new phone to get newer os.

Android games are not written in Java, but don't let that stop you from spewing BS.

Also, how did you manage to bring your Debian+Xfce crap into a discussion about Java and Android?

[peppercats]

The only times I use Java is when I code for Android. I might change to Kotlin though (which runs on the JVM though) since Google is starting to support that.

Personally I like .NET Core much more than Java.

this
C# is by far a better language than Java.