Moving Java Forward Faster
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I don't want Java to move forward faster. I don't really want it to move forward much at all unless there is a huge, tangible benefit from the new feature(s). I am of the belief that programming languages should be a solid, fixed foundation on which lasting software can be reliably built. Every time a feature is added to a programming language, it becomes larger, more complex and harder to learn. Rapid changes to languages can also result in regrets, and it is essentially impossible to take something back in language development.<p>In general, I think too much stock is put into language features, perhaps because many developers are bored with the actual software they are writing/maintaining, and so new language features are relatively fun. As a mental experiment for those who know both Java and Kotlin, or both Java and Scala: Suppose you were asked to estimate the time required to implement a system in Java, and you arrived at an answer of 2 months. Now what would be your estimate for the same system, but written in Kotlin? How about Scala? Admit that it would be the same. (Well, probably a little longer for Scala, but just because it takes forever to compile, ha.)