Comment by mlinksva

No affiliation with either, but I don't think Java and Scala are punching at each other, and they're both doing great. Needless to say Java has continued to exceed expectations and given its huge role in the world, that's worth [handwave very huge number] in consumer welfare. Scala has evolved the last several years to again become perhaps the most interesting big-ish application language, eg see Odersky's recent https://scaladays.org/session/opening-session-keynote/ and https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3786335.3813127