We had a small pilot project to test replacing a Java app with a NodeJS app. The node app was a single file of about 50 lines of code, whereas the Java app had all sorts of bullshit associated with it. It needs to be compiled and the dependencies need be installed, you need a specific version of the JDK, make sure you run in with special flags... all to receive an HTTP request, pick out some data, then forward it on to a downstream server. Huge productivity gains from never having to fight a build, it was stupid easy to set up the deployment pipeline too, much to the chagrin of the devops manager. Git pull, npm install, node app.js and that’s it.

The Java exit strategy is to find the technology that serves your needs. There’s just so much bullshit associated with having a language that does it all that I think people are starting to look for solutions with common sense defaults. Why, in 2019, is it still so fucking awkward to deal with JSON in Java? Why do I have to handle so many interfaces and classes to make a simple HTTP request?

C++ is facing the same reckoning as Java, thanks to Rust. You’d be stupid to start a C++ project these days, given all the sanity that Rust brought to that ecosystem.