About PayPal's Node vs Java “fight”
I fantasize about rebuilding the java ecosystem. Create "JPM", don't allow anything from the old Maven system in it.<p>Create a new "hip" minimalist framework that ignores everything about java and its notions of OOP. Basic dependency management handled NPM-style. Developers encourage to put everything in the same package for their own stuff, and everything is package level. Getters and setters and encapsulation and java's poor implementation of OOP ignored.<p>Heck, fork Spark, split out the individual pieces as modules, and start there.<p>All "JPM" packages expected to be under 100 lines, a la NPM.  Frameworks are discouraged. Take what you need a la carte.<p>I'd argue that java is a better back end language than javascript in and of itself, but that the community norms have led to the pain we see.<p>Have an extreme preference for 1.8 code (IE, the new java.time system) and away from anything bloated. Rethink for the common use cases, rather than trying to support everything under the sun. Spring still exists for that, after all. :)<p>The problem with java isn't that it's a BLUB language anymore, but that it's a BLUB ecosystem. I'm not saying the language is perfect, but Java 8 as good as ruby or javascript for web development if the ecosystem is ignored.