Is Java Slowly Running Out of Steam?

Last month, the GitHub Octoverse 2024 report revealed that Python surpassed Java as the most popular language. This was driven mainly by its dominance in data science, machine learning, and scientific computing, alongside the rise of generative AI projects. 

This brings us to question whether Java is slowly losing its charm. Python developers are smiling, as they are often known to make fun of Java for its notorious boilerplate code. C programmers laugh at the often ridiculous class names, and C++ users hate it because you can’t blow your office with manual memory management.  

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However, there is still hope for Java. According to a survey by the TIOBE Index, it is still among the top five most popular programming languages, along with Python and the C family of languages. 

There are thousands of job postings for experienced Java programmers in industries as diverse as fintech, healthcare, and travel. All of them are still choosing object-oriented Java as their primary programming language in their custom software development tech stack. 

Source: TIOBE

Java’s Popularity in 2024

Even after more than two decades, Java is still heavily used by many programmers, and plenty of products are being built using it. According to the April 2023 TIOBE Programming Community Index, which is an indicator of widely used programming languages, Java ranked third, trailing behind Python and C. 

Source: TIOBE

Similarly, the RedMonk Programming Language Rankings for Q1 ranked Java as the third most popular language, after JavaScript and Python, based on data from GitHub and Stack Overflow.

Source: RedMonk

Also, this year, an international job search site in the IT industry, Devjobsscanner, studied over 7 million vacancies and found that Java was in the top three most in-demand languages after JavaScript and Python. 

That’s not all, Java tops the list of most searched technologies in 80 out of 162 countries spanning Australia, Africa, South America, and Europe. 

Java in Building Generative AI 

Java is proving its strength in generative AI by evolving from simple scripts to powerful Spring Boot applications. Offering unmatched versatility and scalability for real-world use cases, Java stands out as a reliable choice alongside Python in the AI revolution.

While Python is known for its simplicity and readability, Java has a more verbose syntax and a steeper learning curve. Its static typing system, which provides robustness and error-checking at compile time, can be less intuitive for beginners. 

However, Java’s structured approach can lead to more maintainable and scalable code in large projects. 

Java’s compiled nature gives it a performance niche, making it suitable for applications where speed is crucial. Its Just-In-Time (JIT) compiler and efficient memory management through garbage collection contribute to its high performance. 

As we’ve already seen, it continues to remain a strong contender in the job market, especially in enterprise development. Its long-standing presence in the industry ensures a stable demand for Java developers. 

While Java has a rich ecosystem, particularly in enterprise applications, its data science libraries, like Weka and Deeplearning4j, are available but don’t match the breadth and depth of Python’s offerings. 

With a community equally sturdy in the enterprise sector, Java’s “Write Once, Run Anywhere” philosophy ensures high probability. It also has a strong support network, making it a reliable choice for long-term projects. 

A user working in the finance sector mentioned that their microservice backends for numerous modernisation projects are written in Java, adding that it’s not going anywhere. Another user shared that Java, a language widely adopted by everyone, is almost too difficult to change or introduce something new to.

Another said that Java isn’t even that old tech anymore. With a well-designed Lambda syntax, type inference, pattern matching, sum types, and decent APIs for functional programming, it has become a pretty “OK language”.

Recently, Oracle officially launched Java 22, the latest iteration of the world’s most widely used programming language and development platform.

Java 22 incorporates 12 JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEPs) that bring about language improvements, core libraries and tools capabilities, as well as performance updates. 

“By delivering enhancements that streamline application development and extend Java’s reach to make it accessible to developers of all proficiency levels, Java 22 will help drive the creation of a wide range of new applications and services for organisations and developers alike,” said Georges Saab, senior vice president, Oracle Java Platform. 

He also announced the return of JavaOne in 2025.