Recently in my company this never ending debate of language has come up.
Needless to say everybody loves the language/stack they have experience with. So I can not really debate about why not other languages but I can tell why Java is my default language.
Before I start let me tell you how many languages I have command today as far server side is considered
a. C++, Java,C#.Net, Scala, Groovy, Javascript (Node.js) and ready to explore more always
I started my career 12 long years back as a rookie and started working on a project called Rule Engine developed in VC++.
Liked them as well but C++ remained the first love..I was of the view that compared to other programmers if I learn the language deep enough to be a master (yes cause I was immensely impressed with the likes of Scott Mayers, Herb Sutter, Alexndrascu (creator of D), Don Box “the com guy” and many others. They were all C++ programmers.
Fast forward I joined a start a “web start-up” which was creating a web app. and I was asked to lead. We rearchiteted whole server side code in Java but again somebody else took responsibility for front end cause that was “web” according to C++ programmer inside me.
It’s performance is only a tad bit slow compared to C++ and is negligible for a web application where other aspects of the application architecture come into play but there is no way Java can be slower than PHP, Python, Ruby etc
So you should Java cause
- It is high performance
- It has huge ecosystem..So many web frameworks to choose from
- It is enterprise grade
- It is the only language that runs on 6 billion devices
- It is stable and will remain a popular language in coming future
- It’s ecosystem is well managed by apache
- No dearth of programmers
- JVM opens new opportunities everyday
- Monitoring tools available aplenty
- It keeps evolving (Functional programming in Java8)
Very surprising to see people working in languages like PHP/Python rarely do memory profiling may be because they simply do not have a tool.
To me Java is a language you can do anything with. You want web programming you got it.
You want to write high performance server? Bring it on..So many projects like Storm and Hadoop if they can rely on Java/JVM then you can too.
Whatever you can achieve in Pythons and Rubys you can do with Java. May be you wont like the syntax but vast ecosystem around Java makes sure you are never at loss while selecting a library or a tool.
and if you know Java then you know JVM and if you know JVM you can choose from any language from your choice like Scala..Don’t like Scala? Try Kotlin..Don’t like that either try groovy,Ceylon and so son.
So yes I guess you are in safe spot with Java which extremely well understood with infinite documentation and remains one of the top choice of programmers for last 2 decades and I do not see its glory fading away anytime soon.
So working with Java is like working with a world class MNC…bit old school but still better then many start ups and yet deliver what it promises. Very little surprises here.
Happy coding !!
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