It seems that there is a whole mess around current JCP.

Quite of number of highly respected guys like Doug Lea, Tim Peierls had quit JCP.

Reference :

Is JCP dead? and Final results of the JSR Review Ballot for JSR #336

This put Java in an unfavorable future. As a Java developer, will you still consider using Java in your next project?

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    Quitting the JCP != quitting the platform. – luis.espinal Apr 12 '11 at 11:22


The developer support will be around for a very long time. The language is mature, most JVMs are very stable and fast. I find little core necessary libraries or language features missing. I would still choose Java over most other languages and runtimes still due to its ability to sell into nearly any IT ecosystem.

I wait eagerly for a new cross-platform language and runtime that can support the widest customer base, but all things considered, Java still reigns supreme.

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I've been moving slowly away from "Java the language" anyway, but still relying on the JVM as a platform, by adopting Groovy, and starting to learn Scala and Clojure. The recent events with Oracle and the JCP make me a little less certain about the future of "Java as a platform," but not to the point of dropping it (yet). Regardless of what happens with the ASF and Harmony, OpenJDK is out there, under GPL+classpath exception license, and Harmony does still exist even if it never gets TCK certification. And with IBM and Apple seemingly on the OpenJDK bandwagon, I'm moderately optimistic that the JVM will live on in a suitable form.

For me, the only real action I'd take right now, is to "future proof" myself by starting to evaluate and learn some other platforms / languages... Erlang, Haskell, Lisp, Ocaml, whatever.

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Yes, I would. Java is one of the most widely spread programming languages so Java will exist for a long time.

I don't think it's many languages that can compete with Java as of today. It has a huge userbase and big libraries, both standard libraries and third party libraries. It has good performance with garbage collection. And it has static typing.

If you look at TIOBE Index and want a static typed object oriented language with managed memory, many good libraries and target multiple platforms. Then I think Java is still the best choice.

Java is that big so it will not die even if Oracle try to kill it very hard. I think that Google will release a similar and compatible language under a different name if it get worse. It's so big that it can't die.

And it is a good language compared to many alternatives. Oracle will just make it a more commercial language than before. And C#, the best alternative is also a commercial language, so it doesn't mean that the language will die, it will just be different.

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I won't use it. I don't like monsters like Oracle.

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  • But the problem is that there is not many alternatives. – Jonas Dec 10 '10 at 20:22
  • @Jonas Depending what you are going to do. – duros Dec 10 '10 at 20:25
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    @duros: Well, if you want a language with many of the features that Java has there isn't many alternatives. – Jonas Dec 10 '10 at 20:33
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    If your goal is to limit yourself to one language, this might be true, but I have a hard time believing there are features only Java has. – JeffO Dec 10 '10 at 23:07
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    @duros Do you prefer monsters like MSFT? – Mahmoud Hossam Apr 15 '11 at 3:47


To be more specific: I'll be doing my next project in a mix of Java and Clojure. My logic:

  • The JVM is a great platform for development - fast, robust and cross-platform
  • Java provides an incredible wealth of open source libraries and tools. It's hard to ignore this advantage
  • Clojure is a great, modern language that is extremely productive and dynamic while also offering seamless interoperability with Java code
  • Hence I can write my application in 90% Clojure, and use Java where needed as a "portable assembler" for highly optimised pieces of code or where it is convenient to use Java libraries
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  • +1 (+10 if I could): I think it would be wise to freeze Java as a language (which is a mature and clean enough OOP language), stop messing around with lambdas and other cool features that are already much better supported by languages like Scala (and probably Clojure which, unfortunately, I did not have the time to learn yet), and use Java (together with the JVM and the Java API) as a basis for developing cross-platform applications, possibly in combination with other JVM languages. – Giorgio Nov 10 '12 at 10:11

As a pragmatist, yes I would consider using it in my next project.

However, I'd also consider other languages / platforms that had the right technical attributes AND a more open and community oriented approach to governance.

And I would also consider participating in a well organized effort to produce such a language and platform.

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What Oracle does to Java won't matter in the short term. All current JVMs and compilers and libraries will still be available, as well as the community.

Oracle's actions are, I think, likely to harm Java in the long run.

So, I'd have no hesitation about using it for my next project, but if I depended on it I'd consider a long-term exit strategy just in case.

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The "mess in the JCP" Reflects that Sun - as a company - could't decide upon if they should be a community driven open source project or a commercial product.

This was clearly shown when Apache Harmony could not get the TCK license.

Oracle - however - has very clearly shown they Will run this as a commercial product in the same way A's most other products. If you Can live with that, fine. If you cannot, well - Mono is strong ón most platforms.

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