Hi Clay, I have this theory, its called 'The theory of good enough'.
I use an Android phone and tablets because they are 'good enough' to ditch Apple and its closed ecosystem. I do not run a Windows PC because Ubuntu on my PC is 'good enough'. No more virus checkers crippling my hardware! I don't pay for business software when there is an OSS alternative - Java, JUnit, Groovy, Spock, Mongodb, MySql, Tomcat, jetty, Selenium, etc*. By the same token,Java 6 is 'good enough'. There's hardly any project that could not be done in Java 6(assuming competent developers). Sure, there's some awesome stuff in Java 8. The reality is though, the only people who know how better it could be, are those who went looking for something better (Scala, Groovy, Kotlin, Ceylon) or came from something better (Ruby). The vast majority were taught Java and really don't give a crap about the boiler plate or the upcoming lambda syntax. Its a bit like knowing English. Sure, there are more logical languages, even languages which allow you to express yourself in fewer words. But English is 'good enough' and in this case ubuqitous. Regards * I do pay for IntelliJ IDEA. Please ignore that as it completely undermines my theory! ** I'm writing this after a few beers, so it may well be BS. On 13 February 2014 20:46, clay <[email protected]> wrote: > I'm disappointed there is not a peep about JDK 8 in this forum. > > IMO, the main features are: > > - Cleaner lambda expression syntax than the anonymous inner class route from > Java 1.1 > - Functional collections in the standard JDK as opposed to relying on > somewhat obscure add-on libraries like FunctionalJava or Clojure. > - Standard Optional type which actually includes map and flatMap unlike the > philistines from Guava. OptionalInt doesn't include these for some odd > reason. > - Lots of VM improvements. No permgen! Some of my microbenchmarks saw 10% > speedups on old code, which is completely unexpected. > - New date/time library. Successor to Joda as a standard library. If you > have to deal with calendar date/times and can afford JDK8+ runtime > requirement, this is a super elegant library. > > Downsides: > > - Still way, way behind Scala. Scala is basically Java 8 + a ton of syntax > clean up and fixing legacy problems inherited from its C origins + pattern > matching system + for comprehensions designed for flatMap-able types > (Monads) + better designed library. Typesafe's ecosystem is also really > attractive with SBT,Akka,Slick,Play. Most of those support Java, but Scala > is clearly preferred. > - My employer will likely not approve any JDK 8 work for three years or so. > If there is a shred of a possibility we will have to ship code to someone > who expects JDK7 compatibility, we can't upgrade. > - Major features are mostly catch up with everyone else. There are more > exciting new developments elsewhere. > - Android has pinned much of the Java programming community to legacy JDK 6. > Even new Android 4.4 has this pathetic support for the trivial syntax > additions, but doesn't support the major JDK7 features like InvokeDynamic > byte code and the NIO.2 library. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Java Posse" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Java Posse" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
