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When Java was first released in 1995, it gained instant popularity and quickly became the number one programming language. Today, 15 years later, it still remains one of the top programming languages in the world. However, with the advent of other programming languages such as Python and Ruby, will Java still remains a dominant force in 10 years? Let’s find out by looking at what happened to other popular programming languages over the past decade and extrapolate this onto Java over the next 10 years.
1) Introduction
In order to answer that question, we have to first know a little bit about Java. It was initially released by Sun Microsystems (which has since been acquired by Oracle) as a platform-independent development environment in 1995. From there, it grew steadily and eventually became one of the leading programming languages used today. Although its popularity has somewhat tapered off over time compared to dynamic languages like Ruby or Python, it is still widely used across industries and will continue to be so in ten years. Before delving into some of these opportunities, let’s take a look at where Java came from and how it got here today.
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2) The First Change – Starting With J
1: What is the default value of a boolean in Java?
Next – is that Java can and should change. The JCP as we know it today, and as we’ve known it for about 20 years, simply cannot handle a world of open-source languages that are born, flourish, and eventually die – because there is no longer any investment from Oracle. The gatekeeping role that Oracle plays needs to disappear if Java has any hope of continuing to be relevant, but there must be some barrier to entry so that one community doesn’t end up with hundreds of other languages competing directly with Java. As such, we need a new JCP (the current JCP isn’t really capable of doing anything), one where anyone can get their language certified (or de-certified) at any time.
3) End-User Adoption
The big question is whether end users have any say at all when it comes to deciding what language we use. In other words, can our end users dictate whether a product uses JavaScript, Scala, or Swift? There’s certainly a growing trend of programming languages as a service (PaaS), where companies are providing cloud services that allow developers to do just that. So with enterprises setting their own language requirements, does it make sense for vendors to develop custom versions of popular software written in specific languages on which those enterprises already rely? And could open source software become an important factor here, allowing these enterprise-developed tools to be shared with everyone else without fear of being left behind because they were built upon specific proprietary codebases?
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4) Quicker Start, Easier Apps
One of the benefits of programming languages is that over time they tend to become easier to use. That’s been a feature of each version of Java and it’s likely to be true going forward as well. Some of that progress may come through more and better tools, but some may come from removing complexity directly at runtime. One tool called GraalVM even allows you to run your Java app on a JavaScript engine with many other languages available as well; by 2020, we could be designing entire apps written in a combination of languages natively integrated with each other.
5) Advanced Parallel Processing
Until recently, writing programs that used more than one processor at a time was a complicated task. But modern languages like Java are becoming increasingly able to harness multiple processors at once. Multiple threads, which can run programs simultaneously, are just one of many ways to do it. Others include using multi-core processors (the same silicon chip with two or more CPUs), SIMD instructions (that let you perform multiple operations on each parallel operation on a single CPU), and offloading processing tasks to GPUs or special hardware like FPGAs.
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6) Smarter Programming, Deeper Insights
Over time, new improvements like lambda expressions and functional interfaces will transform how we think about programming. The idea of a high-level declarative syntax that is simple to use and elegant to read has been at Java’s core since its early days. As users, we don’t want to always have to write code that gets compiled down into low-level instructions that are difficult for machines (and humans) to understand. And even if you’re not working with one of these more cutting-edge features yet, you can already take advantage of some new analysis tools introduced with Java 9 that can identify bugs and pitfalls even earlier in your development cycle by statically inspecting your code.
7) Hidden Benefits Of Better Tech Tools
It’s possible that, as with many other areas of our lives, we take tech tools for granted. We turn on our computers and expect them to work. We don’t think about how they do what they do or how much effort has gone into their design and construction—we just expect that technology is always going to be there when we need it. But what would life be like without Internet access, email, or GPS? It was only 20 years ago that these technologies weren’t so easily available—and now they’re an integral part of daily life. A few minutes spent thinking about how technology works may motivate you to speak up if you see something wrong.
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8) Disruptive Online Learning Methods
The very concept of a university is threatened by online learning and massive open online courses (MOOCs). With inexpensive tools, like MOOC platforms Coursera, Udacity, and edX, any individual with an internet connection can gain access to some of the world’s greatest scholars. Before long, educators across every discipline will have to reassess their teaching methods as more students pick up a mouse over a pen. How do you think universities should react to these disruptive technologies? Will it have an impact on your work life? Does your workplace offer education or training opportunities through websites or similar software applications? If so, what do you think about how these options compare to classroom learning or traditional textbooks and lectures?
9) Developer Convenience, Productivity Enhancements, And Tools Updates.
The very nature of programming languages means that there’s always something better around the corner. The next best thing has a way of popping up every couple of years, promising to fix all kinds of issues. Unfortunately, most programming languages aren’t able to keep pace with changes in platforms and frameworks, meaning language updates can lag behind other advancements. For example, Python jumped on asynchronous processing before many other languages did—and now it offers coroutines and generators. By contrast, JavaScript is catching up with async/await after so many promises about when it would become available (it was initially promised to be part of version 1). As these sorts of features emerge from research labs and into production codebases, tooling often has trouble keeping up.
10) The Beginning Of A New Era
I have written down what I see happening with Java over the next 10 years, taking a look at where it’s come from and how it will change. Take a moment to consider yourself; if you were 12 years old today, what year would you be 25 in. If you were 25 now, how old would you be when turning 50 came around? It’s hard to imagine being that far ahead into your future when dealing with something so concrete as numbers and dates. With that said let’s take a moment to try and understand just where we are right now with java and then look to see how things could potentially play out over time.
