I still like Java

Ok I am a crusty old Java programmer. The trouble is that I started out as a crusty old Perl programmer, and when I realized there was a language out there that was both performant AND readable, I jumped on the bandwagon and stayed there happily.

Fifteen years later I'm reading stuff like this: http://tech.jonathangardner.net/wiki/Why_Java_Sucks and weeping. In the intervening 15 years I've enjoyed experimenting with quite heavily in other languages such as C#, Objective C, and Javascript (in particular, Node).

My heart *still* belongs to Java, because of its clarity, emphasis on maintainability, support by the best IDEs, and huge developer/library/tooling ecosystem.

I'm still new to Java 8 and its idioms, but the new lambdas and stream language features are really nice:

List<Challenge> challenges = lobbyDAO.getChallengesFor( challengedPlayer );
Optional<Challenge> first =
        challenges
        .stream()
        .filter(challengeID -> {
            if (challengeID.isChallengeExpired()) {
                removeExpiredChallenge(challengeID.getChallengeID());
                return false;
            } else {
                return true;
            }
        })
        .findFirst();

I am looking forward to learning more about the Java 8 features, including native support for Javascript (aka Nashorn). The future on the JVM seems bright to me, regardless of very vocal detractors!