Back to proposals-2013

Title: Java 8 a new beginning
Proposer: russel_winder
Type: Presentation
Duration: 90 minutes
Description: Java 8 will introduce lambda expressions to Java, and include a whole new library – a bigger change to Java than Java 5. The change is a simple evolution, but is also a complete revolution of Java.

Java is now often portrayed as boring, staid, a legacy technology. Yet the Java Platform based on the JVM is a vibrant arena: Scala, Groovy, JRuby, Clojure, Jython, Ceylon, Kotlin – a mix of static and dynamic languages pushing the use of the JVM to new places. Java has to compete with Scala, Ceylon and Kotlin in the “static language for the JVM” crown; the association of Java as the language for the JVM is long past. Can the changes to Java in Java 8, and later Java 9 and Java 10 (there is a road map all the way to Java 12), sideline Scala, Ceylon, and Kotlin, or is it already too late for Java?

What are the features of Java 8? Why are they just copies of what is in Scala (and possibly Ceylon and Kotlin)? Are Ceylon and Kotlin at all relevant to the JVM-based world? What is all the fuss about? Come to this session and join in answering some, all or none of these questions.

Ewan: I think this is my fave from Russel. Today, anyway. Ewan]
Roger: Yes