To those wondering why not move to Clojure or Scala instead of this approach, here is why I am holding back:
a) I have a mission critical enterprise app that is in maintainance mode. I need to enhance certain features dealing with concurrency -- my team can ramp up Actor model implementation in functionaljava or Jetlang faster than they can ramp up on Scala.
b) No doubt that Scala is actually better Java , but I am confident that later versions of JDK would catch up. The concurrency features of JDK 7 are pretty good.
c) did I mention the team -- its hard enough finding a good java programmer; imagine how difficult it would be to hire good Scala programmers from the small eclectic community of Scala programmers.
d) most of the enterprisey stuff my team develops doesn't require functional programming -- just reliable applications delivered within drop dead deadlines. Plain old Java gets me there . JDK 7 concurrency and various Actor model implementations in Java such as FunctionalJava, Jetlang , Kilim are just cherry on top.
It would be actually easier to hire a good Scala than a good Java programmer because most Scala programmers are good. PG has an essay on this phenomenon somewhere.
I'm also not confident that Java will "catch up" to Scala. There's more to Scala than concurrency or functional programming. Type inference, first class objects, short syntax for FP, persistent datastructures, a better object system, etc.
However, my point was that Java will continue to be always good enough to steal thunder from more promising languages. ( I realize that Oracle may find a way to screw it up)
Had JDK 7 not included Fork/Join and had Actor model implementations such as Jetlang, Kilim and FunctionalJava not been developed, there could have been a strong case to call Java dated and explore Scala in the enterprise. I began exploring Scala / Clojure to deal with multicore CPUs .concurrency etc. but that is no longer a valid concern.
Java was never elegant to start with -- it just barely got the job done -- and continues to get the job done and that is good enough.
They say that when you have a hammer, everything looks like a Nail. Java is my hammer.
> its hard enough finding a good java programmer; imagine how difficult it would be to hire good Scala programmers from the small eclectic community of Scala programmers.
It seems likely that it's hard to find good Java programmers precisely _because_ the skilled devs are tired of Java and see Scala as a way out.
To those wondering why not move to Clojure or Scala instead of this approach, here is why I am holding back:
a) I have a mission critical enterprise app that is in maintainance mode. I need to enhance certain features dealing with concurrency -- my team can ramp up Actor model implementation in functionaljava or Jetlang faster than they can ramp up on Scala.
b) No doubt that Scala is actually better Java , but I am confident that later versions of JDK would catch up. The concurrency features of JDK 7 are pretty good.
c) did I mention the team -- its hard enough finding a good java programmer; imagine how difficult it would be to hire good Scala programmers from the small eclectic community of Scala programmers.
d) most of the enterprisey stuff my team develops doesn't require functional programming -- just reliable applications delivered within drop dead deadlines. Plain old Java gets me there . JDK 7 concurrency and various Actor model implementations in Java such as FunctionalJava, Jetlang , Kilim are just cherry on top.