The language everyone loves to hate is still powering billions of devices but that doesn’t mean it’s thriving. Let’s talk about why it refuses to die.
If I had a dollar for every time someone announced Java’s death, I could probably retire and spend my days writing Rust that never gets deployed.
This month’s “Java funeral” post was just the latest in a long line of dramatic obituaries. Dev Twitter threw flowers, LinkedIn had eulogies, and somewhere in an Oracle boardroom… nothing happened.
Java is still here. Still running banks, insurance giants, government systems, and yes your old Minecraft server.
But here’s the thing: surviving isn’t the same as thriving. Java feels less like a rockstar and more like that MMO boss you’ve been fighting for three expansions. It won’t go down, but it’s not exactly exciting anyone either.
TLDR:
Java isn’t actually dead (again). It’s still the backbone of a ton of critical infrastructure, thanks to the JVM, corporate inertia, and its stability. But for many devs, the hype has moved on to shinier, newer tools. We’ll dig into why Java keeps surviving its own funerals, where it still shines, and what the next few years might look like.
Table of contents
- The recurring death of Java
- What keeps Java alive (and kicking, sort of)
- Why devs keep “leaving” anyway
- Where Java actually shines in 2025
- The zombie factor
- What’s next for Java?
- Conclusion + resources
The recurring death of Java
Java’s death is like the Duke Nukem Forever release date it just keeps coming back every few years.
We’ve been through this cycle since the mid-2000s:
- 2007–2010: “Java applets are dead, Flash is the future!” (Flash is now in the graveyard too.)
- 2015: “Android’s moving to Kotlin, Java’s done.” (Spoiler: Kotlin is winning mobile, but Java is still in the room.)
- Every year since: Some tech blogger declares Java obsolete, pointing to low Stack Overflow survey rankings and dropping “enterprise” like it’s a slur.
And yet… Java refuses to die.
Why? Two big reasons: legacy code and corporate inertia.
When you have a 20-year-old banking system running on Java 6, you don’t “rewrite it in Go for fun.” You keep paying developers who know the language and the JVM. The risk of touching certain codebases is like opening a cursed tomb better to leave it undisturbed unless you really want to awaken something.
And it’s not just dusty old systems. The JVM ecosystem is a massive reason Java’s still relevant. Even if you’ve switched to Kotlin, Scala, or Clojure, you’re still benefiting from decades of JVM tooling and optimizations. It’s like Java’s ghost still paying your rent.
If a language is boring but keeps the lights on for millions of people… is it really dead?
What keeps Java alive (and kicking, sort of)
If Java were a video game character, it’d be that tanky support class nobody mains but everyone relies on to survive the raid. You might not brag about playing it, but without it, the whole squad wipes.
The JVM is the real MVP
Java’s not just a language it’s the gateway to the Java Virtual Machine, which is still one of the most battle-tested, optimized runtimes in existence. The JVM lets you run Java, Kotlin, Scala, Clojure, Groovy, JRuby, and more, all on the same underlying tech. You can think of it like a universal controller adapter for programming languages.
The performance gains from decades of JVM optimization are insane. Garbage collection? Mature. Just-In-Time compilation? Rock solid. Cross-platform consistency? Still unmatched in many cases. Even if you’ve left Java for Kotlin, you’re still on its turf.
Enterprise adoption is sticky
Banks, governments, insurance companies these places love Java like sysadmins love Bash scripts. Not because it’s “sexy,” but because it’s predictable, stable, and has an army of devs who know it. Once Java is embedded in an org’s infrastructure, ripping it out isn’t just costly it’s a potential compliance nightmare.
The tooling is ridiculously good
Want a rock-solid IDE? IntelliJ IDEA has been spoiling Java devs for years. Want a mature web framework? Spring Boot basically invented “Java, but not painful for web dev.” Want battle-tested libraries? Maven Central is overflowing with them. Sure, dependency hell is still a thing, but it’s a familiar hell.
Modern Java isn’t the Java you remember
Lambdas, var, switch expressions, records the language has evolved. It’s not Haskell-level elegant, but it’s a far cry from the Java 1.4 you learned in school.
Java’s secret survival trick isn’t that it’s exciting it’s that it’s safe. It’s the Toyota Corolla of programming languages. No one writes a love song about it, but it’ll still be running when your trendy electric scooter startup shuts down.
Why devs keep “leaving” anyway
If Java is so stable, reliable, and backed by billions in enterprise infrastructure… why do so many devs ditch it the moment they get the chance?
Because stability isn’t the same as fun.
The boredom factor
Java is like that MMO you’ve been playing for 15 years you know every mechanic, every quest, every bug exploit. Sure, it works, but the thrill’s gone. Compare that to picking up Rust and wrestling with its borrow checker, or hacking together a Go project in a weekend. Newer languages feel like new worlds to explore; Java feels like your hometown safe, familiar, and kinda dull.
Syntax fatigue
Even with modern updates, Java can still feel verbose. Writing a simple DTO can feel like you’re transcribing legal documents. You see Kotlin’s data class syntax or Go’s minimal boilerplate and suddenly Java’s ceremony starts to feel exhausting.
Better options for certain jobs
Want to build a quick serverless API? Node.js, Go, or Python will get you there faster. Doing data science? Python owns that space. Writing mobile apps? Kotlin has the native advantage on Android and Swift rules iOS. Java is still capable, but for many domains, it’s not the first tool people reach for anymore.
Oracle drama
Licensing changes, legal disputes, and the general perception of Oracle as “the Disney of enterprise software” have left a sour taste in the dev community. OpenJDK is the safe escape hatch, but the PR damage lingers.
Generational shift
Ask a junior dev to start in Java and you might as well have asked them to code in COBOL. Many CS grads today cut their teeth on Python or JavaScript, so by the time they hit the job market, Java feels like a step backward in “cool factor.”
Where Java actually shines in 2025
For all the jokes, Java still has domains where it’s basically the undisputed boss battle. You might not choose it for a weekend side project, but if you’re building certain kinds of systems, Java’s still the right call.
High-performance enterprise backends
Massive transaction volumes? Mission-critical reliability? Decades of domain-specific libraries? Java’s got you. Banks, airlines, logistics giants they’re not rewriting their core systems in TypeScript just because it’s trending on GitHub.
Big data and analytics
Hadoop, Apache Spark, Flink a lot of big data tooling either runs on the JVM or was written in Java/Scala. Even if your data scientists are in Python, the heavy lifting often happens in the JVM world. It’s the invisible layer doing the grunt work while the shiny Python notebooks get the credit.
Android still in the picture
Yes, Kotlin is the cool kid now, but Java’s still the underlying reality for much of Android’s ecosystem. Tons of legacy apps and libraries are still Java-based, and Android Studio is perfectly happy compiling both.
Regulated industries
Healthcare, finance, government these sectors care about proven, tested, and auditable. Java’s long history and huge developer pool make it a low-risk choice when the stakes are high (and the lawyers are watching).
Long-term maintainability
If you expect a codebase to last 10+ years and survive multiple developer turnovers, Java is a safe bet. The language changes slowly, the ecosystem is stable, and the risk of “we can’t find anyone to maintain this” is way lower than with niche languages.
The zombie factor
Java in 2025 feels less like a vibrant, bustling city and more like a well-maintained fortress with a skeleton crew. It’s not expanding like crazy, but it’s not crumbling either it just keeps going, slowly, steadily, and stubbornly.
The best analogy? A zombie. Not the fast, rage-virus kind. The slow, shambling, “still dangerous if you get too close” kind.
It’s not winning marathons, but it’s impossible to kill because:
- It’s everywhere. From backend services to industrial control systems, there’s Java code humming away that hasn’t been touched in years and probably shouldn’t be.
- It has a massive support network. Even if the community isn’t screaming with excitement, the libraries, tooling, and dev talent are still there.
- It adapts just enough. Features from Project Amber and Project Loom trickle in to keep it relevant, even if the updates feel like a Netflix show on its 15th season.
The cultural perception vs reality gap is huge. Dev Twitter loves dunking on Java for being “outdated,” while Stack Overflow data shows it’s still one of the most-used languages globally. This isn’t a language on life support it’s a boss battle with infinite respawns.
Java the unkillable boss battle
What’s next for Java?
If you’re expecting Java to suddenly pull a No Man’s Sky redemption arc and become the hottest new language overnight… yeah, that’s not happening. But it is quietly evolving in ways that make it more pleasant to work with especially if you haven’t touched it since the “public static void main” dark ages.
Project Loom better concurrency without the headache
Java’s concurrency story has always been solid, but Loom takes it up a notch with virtual threads. It’s not as flashy as async/await in newer languages, but it’s a massive quality-of-life boost for writing scalable services without juggling callbacks like a circus act.
Project Amber smaller syntax wins
Amber is Java’s slow but steady makeover. Pattern matching for switch statements, records, sealed classes all aimed at reducing boilerplate and making the language feel less like paperwork.
Project Panama better native integration
Want to tap into native C/C++ libraries without JNI pain? Panama is working on it. This could make Java more attractive for performance-heavy workloads that need native interop without going full masochist mode.
Release cadence
Since Java moved to a 6-month release cycle, updates are more incremental. No more “massive version jumps every 5 years” panic just steady, bite-sized improvements.
In reality, Java’s future isn’t about winning the cool-kid contest. It’s about being good enough to keep. Enterprises love predictable tech stacks, and the JVM is still one of the most reliable platforms ever built. Java will probably still be around when half of today’s hyped languages have gone the way of Perl.
Conclusion
Java isn’t dead. It isn’t even dying.
It’s just… undead.
The kind of undead that doesn’t care if you mock it, because it’s busy running the systems that keep your paycheck coming.
If you’re a startup founder chasing developer hype, you probably won’t touch Java. If you’re a bank processing billions in transactions a day, you’ll hire another Java dev tomorrow. It’s not a language you brag about using it’s one you trust to not burn down the data center at 2 AM.
Do I reach for Java when I start a personal project? Almost never. Do I respect it? Absolutely.
Because here’s the truth: flashy languages rise and fall, but boring tech often wins in the long game. And Java, for better or worse, plays the long game better than almost anyone.
So the next time you see a “Java is dead” headline, remember we’ve been to its funeral a dozen times already. The coffin’s still empty.
Helpful resources
- Java 21 release notes the latest and greatest changes.
- Spring Boot official docs still one of the best ways to build modern Java apps.
- Project Loom overview concurrency made saner.
- Project Amber page small syntax wins that make Java nicer to use.
- Project Panama page native interop without JNI nightmares.
- r/java subreddit where the Java community actually hangs out.
- Stack Overflow Java tag every bug you’ll ever hit, already asked and answered.
Blending my thoughts with the brilliance of modern tools. ✨
Thanks to ChatGPT, Midjourney, Envato, Grammarly, and friends for the assist. Together, these tools help us turn imagination into a fantastic world of ideas and stories.
Top comments (1)
Too verbose ? try kotlin :)