Java has been present for over 25 years. It has always been one of the most popular languages. It has consistently ranked in the top five of the TIOBE index in terms of popularity. Java is particularly powerful in the enterprise world. Python, C, C#, JavaScript, and C++ are some other popular programming languages. Python has recently gained a lot of popularity. This is because microservices and data science are becoming increasingly popular. So you may be wondering if it is worthwhile to learn Java right now.
In response to this question, Java Champion Nicolai Parlog stated that the number of people who code grows every year. If we imagine it as a cake, the size of the cake is growing. Though the Java share of the TIOBE index may be shrinking slightly, the overall size of the Java share of the cake continues to grow. As a result, there will always be more Java Developers than alternatives.
There are far too many reasons to learn Java and to stick with it. According to Java Champion Bruno Souza:
We’ll go over some of the main reasons why learning Java is more than worthwhile.
Some of the terms may be unfamiliar to you if you are a new programmer. Nevertheless continue reading the article. Everything will be explained in due time.
Community
Because software development is a unique and recent phenomenon in human history, the full body of knowledge is still unestablished. Learning and skill acquisition in this field is more or less mentorship-driven. The community plays an important role in spreading knowledge and developing the necessary skills. Take a look at the world’s history. You will understand. Java has a one-of-a-kind and extremely welcoming community. There is a good chance that a Java User Group exists in your city, as well as in every major city around the world. These groups assist developers in acquiring the necessary skills. This is done voluntarily and without compensation.
These Java Users Groups regularly organize workshops, technical sessions, and physical/virtual meetups to discuss and learn from one another. They aid in the distribution of resources and solutions, the expansion of networking, and the global expansion of Java knowledge. You will always receive assistance from the community. All you have to do is reach out.
Language And Platform
If you read the previous tutorial, you already know what a programming language is. In the following tutorial, we will define Platform. Please bear with us for the time being.
Java is an object-oriented, type-safe programming language. Java places a high value on readability. Its developers and users both spend a lot of time reading code. Because it is extremely readable, developers benefit greatly, for example, when scaling the team. Non-programmers can frequently read Java source code and understand the intent behind a specific section of code. Enterprise systems make extensive use of Java because it serves a crucial function. An enterprise typically produces products on a large scale, and their lifecycle in a manufacturing system is quite long. The product team’s size is frequently multiplied. A language that is expressive and easy to read, such as Java, allows new developers to quickly become acquainted with the existing codebase.
Java is an open-source programming platform with extensive documentation. Java is often appealing to developers who want to delve deeper and learn from the source code. The Java platform contains more than just Java. It contains and supports a wide range of other languages, including Kotlin, Scala, Groovy, Jython, JRuby, and others. All of these programming languages are interoperable, which means they can use well-known libraries that are already in place. This unique and robust combination of language and platform features gives the Java platform a distinct and unrivaled strength.
Java Solves more Problems than Any Other Ecosystem.
Java has been there for over 25 years, with a commanding market share. Java has a large user base, and most enterprise systems use it to develop enterprise software. As a result, the Java programming language and platform have naturally solved more problems than any other ecosystem. We’re not exaggerating. Simply searching for a problem will reveal that someone has most likely already devised a solution. Over a million questions have been answered on StackOverflow.
Furthermore, Java APIs are extensive and extensible. The standard JDK includes massive Java packages that solve the majority of our day-to-day programming issues. However, the standard API is not the only source: the ecosystem provides additional options. For example, Jakarta EE has a diverse set of specifications and standards to support a wide range of enterprise software development problems.
One thing we must recognize here is that we have specifications. A specification allows multiple vendors to implement a specific library with varying capabilities, such as JPA, and the Java Persistence API. JPA provides us with a set of interfaces that can be implemented by any vendor. Hibernate, EclipseLink, and Apache OpenJPA are some other popular implementations. The advantage is that we can now experiment with various implementations and select the best one for our specific use case.
Moving from one implementation to another without changing the code is regarded as a huge blessing in software development. This is provided by Java. It is possible to do so by adhering to specifications. It relieves us of the burden of vendor lock-in. Surprisingly, this is unlikely to be the case on most other platforms. Because there is only one implementation available on most platforms, developers are forced to use it.
Here is the list of the Quality Outreach program of free and open-source Java libraries that you could learn from and contribute to Quality Outreach.
On top of these standards and libraries, Java has a plethora of open-source frameworks, such as Spring and, in particular, Spring Boot. When it comes to writing web services, these frameworks have made developers’ lives a lot easier.
Java has many other frameworks – Micronaut, Quarkus, and Helidon. They are also gaining popularity. You can easily learn these frameworks because there is an enormous amount of resources and books available on the Web on all of them.
Furthermore, the OpenJDK itself has multiple implementations. Oracle is by no means the only provider of the OpenJDK. Although every OpenJDK provider has its own implementation and unique sauces, if they’re doing things right, they’re complying with the shared Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK).
The output remains the same even if performance may differ from OpenJDK vendor to OpenJDK vendor. To give you an example we will throw some java jurgen at you. Default GC of Oracle JDK is G1, which is highly performant. However, if we want to use a commercial GC, such as Azul C4, that’s also fine. We can do that without changing our application code. That’s tremendous freedom. Here’s a list of OpenJDK vendors: https://foojay.io/almanac/java-17/.
Stability
Java is stable and reliable. This is considered one of the most important aspects of the Java Community. When a new feature is released, backward compatibility is always given top priority. As a result, even an old JAR can be run on the most recent OpenJDK distribution.
Other platforms cannot provide you with this. Upgrading Java versions does not require any code changes. That makes a developer’s life much easier. Because of the unparalleled stability that Java provides, many organizations have confidently made it their primary language. They are aware that their code will continue to run on OpenJDK distributions for many years to come.
Innovation
Although Java is stable, it is not without innovation. In the Java ecosystem, there is a lot of innovation going on. Every six months since Java 9, there has been a new major release. It makes adding new features to OpenJDK easier. Every release includes the improved performance of the existing codebase, security fixes, and a plethora of new features.
For example, in Java 8, Lambda expressions were introduced, allowing developers to write Java code using a functional programming paradigm. Many exciting and useful new features have recently been added to the OpenJDK.
The OpenJDK has recently received a slew of exciting and useful new features. The Streams API, Java DateTime, Optional, New Factory methods around Collections, local type inference, text blocks, pattern matching, JShell, and others are among them. Project Loom is a current ongoing project. The goal of Project Loom is to make it easier to write, debug, profile, and maintain concurrent applications that meet today’s requirements. Aside from Project Loom, other projects like Valhalla, Amber, Panama, and Leydon will make our programming lives even easier.
Tooling
The availability of tooling determines how rich a language and platform are. Java is most likely the richest of all. There are numerous IDEs and editors to choose from, including Eclipse, IntelliJ IDEA, Apache NetBeans, Visual Studio Code, and others. These IDEs and editors include a plethora of features, such as code completion and code generation, test runners, debugging tools, refactoring features, version control integration, and framework support, all of which significantly assist developers in reducing bugs and overall development time.
Furthermore, when software goes into production, we need to monitor the system’s behavior constantly, for which we have a well-established toolset, such as JMC, JFR, jstack. Mbeans, and Java Agents.
Employment Opportunities
Now that we’ve covered the technical aspects of the Java ecosystem, the most compelling reason to stick with it is Java’s widespread popularity.
There are an estimated 12 million Java developers worldwide. This makes developers easily employable. As a result, if you know Java Programming, you will find work quickly or sooner. Because the language is widely used and can be thought of as a general-purpose approach to programming, it can be used to create almost anything, from smart cards to large enterprise data applications, from smartphone apps to Mars probes. Being a Java developer is also more than just a job.
Besides simply getting a job, being a Java developer turns out to be one of the top-paying jobs in the USA.
