> with IntelliJ 99% of what you described is auto-configured
It is not, that's what I'm saying. And I don't understand why, if IntelliJ is the de-facto IDE. I'm sure that a fresh project is a one-click import, but an average project that isn't fresh anymore, always have similar IDE-setup-magic problems. At least in my experience over the years.
I code in Java, Scala and Python using an IDE just because I like to not remember the documentation to the code.
I know plenty of people who don't use a formal IDE. This "I don't use an IDE" is a stupid flex.
Me too, that's why I have vim setup with language-servers. I get inline type info, code completion and so on.
It's not a flex, simply a matter of preference: I find using the mouse too irritating, others prefer it because it's simpler.
But that's not my gripe, my gripe is that setting up IntelliJ, the one defacto standard IDE to actually work is some voodoo ritual of a dozen steps and restarts and so on.
In my experience even Eclipse does a pretty good job of importing Maven projects without needing to tweak things.
True, but with IntelliJ 99% of what you wrote is auto-configured.
Eclipse needs a bit of hand-holding, but almost everything you described is due to project configuration.
> Some genius java logging library, I can only guess.
That's your problem, you're assuming that Java is dumb and its libraries are dumb. They're not. I'm reasonably sure that <<all>> mainstream Java logging libraries log to console by default.
The previous engineer must have been a marvel of a developer to manage to screw even that up.
What I'd say is: Java, especially older enterprise code, had a ton of over-engineered patterns. These are slowly fading away, except for Spring, and even Spring's simpler these days. Java also tends to have some low quality and a ton of average but unmotivated working devs on Java projects. So yeah, there's that ecosystem problem.
But for example, if you'd start a new project and you approach Java with an open mind, it's one of the most powerful and flexible techs available. And it's much more modern than the stereotypes imply.