JDK 9 modules voted down by EC
I like to think of the Java ecosystem as a giant elephant balancing on one leg, careening downhill on its squeaky little JVM roller skate.<p>I still remember that Java started as a toy language.  And for all its security features and incremental improvements to JVM byte codes over the years, it still looks like a toy.<p>The classloader is the roller skate and the zillions of interoperating jars are the elephant.  For the most part, the elephant stays up and continues blasting down that hill.<p>I used to think the scene was funny, but now I&#x27;m uncertain.  Only through tools like Gradle and Maven have we papered over the inadequacies of the classloader system and gotten some control of it.<p>I had hopes that jigsaw would give the elephant an option of a little car to drive or at least a second skate to aid with balance.  But safety trumps all, and such a huge breaking change should be avoided if we can.