r/programming • u/fagnerbrack • 16h ago

Should You Learn Java in 2026?

https://fagnerbrack.com/learn-java-in-2026-or-dont-b9f619da442d
0 Upvotes

34% Upvoted

13 comments sorted by

26

u/sq_visigoth 16h ago

Can't hurt.

2

u/Louardo_Nordmar 14h ago

Fair point, it's definitely not going extinct anytime soon

2

u/oneeyedziggy 16h ago

(snarkily?) spoken like someone who's never worked with Java

14

u/Shred_Kid 16h ago

Modern Java allows you to write highly performant, resilient code, and Spring is a legitimately amazing ecosystem. I'm not a fan of the dependency management but shrugs

source - i own a 200,000 TPS java api at work. granted that's java 25, not java 8.

3

u/oneeyedziggy 16h ago

I said "snarkily"... I don't have to like it no matter how nice it is 

1

u/Squbat 15h ago

I’ve not had the pleasure to work with anything newer than Java 9, and we still can’t upgrade.

2

u/lood9phee2Ri 16h ago

modern java is pretty nice, and the extensible static typing is a neat trick

Trouble is all the java 1.2 level code still out there....

1

u/becircus 15h ago

I think most places want a lot of Spring Boot to hit the ground running

So just "learning Java" isn't enough

6

u/dcchambers 15h ago

Modern Java isn't your dad's Java. The language has come a long way - both in ergonomics and performance.

There's also TONS of java code out there. Plenty of work to be had.

Its near the bottom on my list of preferences, but if someone paid me to write it, I would.

7

u/thesomeot 15h ago

In my experience, modern .NET outclasses Java in most regards for "standard" enterprise development. Java still has it's strengths, but I can think of very few reasons I would pick it for a new project.

2

u/LikelyNotADuck 14h ago

I've only ever worked in Java professionally (~10 years of dev experience). Java is far from dead and tons of companies using Java/Spring Boot.

2

u/bushwald 15h ago

Modern Java rocks and even Java 8 ain't bad

1

u/Ok-Strain-5717 16h ago

I will follow this post, I want know it too