Ode to Java

Ode to Java. Boy, I love Java. When I switched jobs way back, a condition was that the new project was going be using Java. GC. Single file modules. No "forward". The Collection suite. Fast compiles. The magic of the ClassLoader. The ClassLoader, that was insightful. I don't know how much thought went into that when they came up with it, but, wow. That ClassLoader is behind a large swath of Java magic. It really hasn't changed much over time, but boy is it powerful. When I started Java, I started it because of the nascent Java web stack of the day. Early servlets and JSP. I picked because of two things. One, JSPs were just Servlets. A JSP was compiled down into a Servlet, and shazam, Servlet all the way down. Two, single language stack. Java in JSPs, Java in Servlets. Java in library code. Java everywhere. In contrast to the MS ASP (pre .NET) world. Mono-language meant my page building controller folks could talk to my backend folks and share expertise. Big win. Servlets were a great model. Filters were easy and powerful. Free sessions. Free database connection pools in the server. …