Comment by b_e_n_t_o_n
3 days ago
I haven't written much Java but I am learning Kotlin and I really appreciate the language and the whole JVM ecosystem. Yeah yeah, Gradle is complicated but it's waaaaay easier to figure out than my adventures with Cmake, and when I read Java code there is a certain comfort I feel that I don't get with other languages, even ones I'm experienced with like Go. Java feels a bit like a stranger I've known my whole life, same with Kotlin. Perhaps despite all its flaws, there is a certain intrinsic quality to Java that has helped make it so popular.
I think you might be getting at one of my favourite features of Java. It's a pretty straightforward simple language. It deals with complexity well by not being too clever. I think Go has that too, except for its error handling and perhaps channels
Maven was peak Java build tool. I detest Gradle. Some people just hate XML enough to doom us all.
Can't speak for everyone, but I think a substantial part of the shift from Maven to Gradle was the ability to write build scripts: you didn't need to write a plugin. I'm hoping that Maven (and Gradle) can take advantage of JEPs 458 and 512 to allow people to write build scripts for that Java projects in Java.
- https://openjdk.org/jeps/458
- https://openjdk.org/jeps/512
I wouldn’t say I’m a fan of maven, but it is absolutely one of the best build/dependency tools I’ve ever used despite its warts.
So many things, even if they came much later, are somehow much worse.