(originally written 23 May 2017)
TL:DR … but just read the headings in that case.
Java is the king. In a similar way that the queen of England is ‘the queen’. Java is not everyone’s king, and some have another king, but even they may see java as the most recognised king. Certainly, Java is the ‘king’ with the health problems.
Java is the king. In a similar way that the queen of England is ‘the queen’. Java is not everyone’s king, and some have another king, but even they may see java as the most recognised king. Certainly, Java is the ‘king’ with the health problems.
Birth: 1995, An innovation, free software with slick professional marketing at the right time!
Java was born in San Francisco as a child of James Gosling in 1995, in the age before the internet had really taken off or allowed the collaboration we know today. The promise of the language was ‘write once, run anywhere’ and the language was fully designed to be ‘fully object oriented’. The truth is Java did not deliver on either premise, but Java did bring the innovation of an efficient, and stable specification for the intermediate code interpreter referred to as the ‘Java Virtual Machine’. ‘C’ was the dominant language, and the early ‘C++’ extension did a very messy job of facilitating OO development, so there was a vacuum to fill.
Sun embarked on a mission to try and deliver ‘write once, run anywhere’. They approached netscape about running in the browser, and when the answer was ‘it wont’ work, they asked ‘well could we call what would work java?’. The approached Patrice Peyret about running in a smart card and ended up buying his company and naming another ‘non-java’ in JavaCard. They approached Cardsoft and STIP on another platform but people tried to really make it java and so it died. But they never acheived ‘java everywhere’ except in having something ‘java’ in the name, The OO design was that it forced applications to use objects, the language itself had no first class functions, and most variables were not objects. Messy, because design was in a vacuum compared to languages today.
But Java became cool. A cool logo. Named after an remote ‘exotic’ island with a reputation as an origin of coffee. Fun in a world of boring ‘Basic’, and ‘C’ and ‘Delphi’. ‘Java One’ conferences were the event to attend. Sun was already ‘cool’ and Java bathed in that, and the marketing and became the language a hipster would program in. Lack of anyone pushing a real alternative, together with great marketing and the language being free resulted in Java taking off driven by its own momentum. Java became king.
Sun embarked on a mission to try and deliver ‘write once, run anywhere’. They approached netscape about running in the browser, and when the answer was ‘it wont’ work, they asked ‘well could we call what would work java?’. The approached Patrice Peyret about running in a smart card and ended up buying his company and naming another ‘non-java’ in JavaCard. They approached Cardsoft and STIP on another platform but people tried to really make it java and so it died. But they never acheived ‘java everywhere’ except in having something ‘java’ in the name, The OO design was that it forced applications to use objects, the language itself had no first class functions, and most variables were not objects. Messy, because design was in a vacuum compared to languages today.
But Java became cool. A cool logo. Named after an remote ‘exotic’ island with a reputation as an origin of coffee. Fun in a world of boring ‘Basic’, and ‘C’ and ‘Delphi’. ‘Java One’ conferences were the event to attend. Sun was already ‘cool’ and Java bathed in that, and the marketing and became the language a hipster would program in. Lack of anyone pushing a real alternative, together with great marketing and the language being free resulted in Java taking off driven by its own momentum. Java became king.
Meanwhile….: 2000-2009 lost years in language, java holds on
By 2000, Java is already starting to decline from the peak. Microsoft now has its ‘won java; in C#, but with Microsoft not cool at the time and C# still new, the strongest competitor to java is still the cumbersome C++. Rapid coding solutions scripting languages perl and php are on the rise and the better ‘scripting’ languages like Python and Ruby gain some traction, but they still have ‘rough edges’. All these are regarded as ‘scripting languages’ that are not for real programmers, suffer performance limitations(particularly on artificial benchmarks), and more importantly, programs are difficult to distribute unless distributed as source. The reality is businesses like yahoo, google others are all built using the competitive advantage of rapid coding with scripting languages, and as their software runs on servers the software distribution is not an issue. So the tech giants grow using newer technologies, but the ‘IT Deparaments’ stay with Java. By late 2004/2005 the secret of companies like google is not only revealed, google actually hires the original developer of python. Around this time python jumps in popularity and Java declines, but the ‘quick and dirty’ php is still a favourite with millions of simple web sites. Form 2008 through to 2012 android has halted the demise of java, the python 2/3 problem is in full swing, and nothing seems ready to fill the void.
The plotter gather: 2010 – 2017 contenders mount challenge
Every one realises java has problems, but with no clear successor to the throne, there is a void. Scripting languages are still working on their limitations, and python is in the 2/3 phase. Scala(first released beta 2004), feels it is ready for the main game, but it joined by Clojure (2007) and then GoSu, Frege, Kotlin, Ceylon, Fantom ….so many contenders that it is hard to choose. All are an improvement on Java, but which one improves on the others? Plus there are new native languages R, Go, Swift and perhaps moving back to native is better? Too many choices, so procrastination wins in many cases.
May 2017: A successor announced!
Google endorses Kotlin as a first class language on android. This may seem, insignificant, but this is google anointing Kotlin as a successor to Java on Android. Google is even promoting just how much of an improvement Kotlin is over Java, showcasing the savings in code of data classes over Java and other examples. Not just to any old language is being ‘pushed aside’… the ‘king’ is pushed aside. When Apple anointed Swift as the successor to objective-c, there was no real use of objective-c other than Apple and the language was far from a ‘king’. Apple anointed Swift, but Swift was their own project, the anointment meets with some scepticism from many developers, just as would have happened if Google chose ‘go’ on Android. What is interesting is just what happened to objective-c popularity. See graph for the popularity of Objective C following Swift announcements. 
The Future Impact: A new king, but who will it be?
Expect Kotlin to jump into the top 50 on tiobe within around 1 month, and become the highest ranked Java alternative very soon. Kotlin will enter PyPl and Java will come under threat of losing its top position on that scale.
Overall Java will have a significant dip, and Kotlin will have a ‘bullet’ following the announcement. Ok, Java will not dip to same extent objective-c did, but it will be significant. So Java will have a first phase of ‘dip’ because of the announcement, and then a second dip as a consequence of the first dip reinforcing that Java is now an ‘out of favour’ as a language. Similarly Kotlin will get at least two ‘boosts’. Most likely within a year it will be on all top 10 lists, and possible even ahead of the 3yr old Swift, although Apple is really doing some pushing with swift.
The real impact is that unlike Swift, which ‘poached’ programmers from Objective-C, Kotlin has the potential to poach from Java, C, C++, Python, Javascript, and even others. There may even be enough impact on challegers to Java’s crown that these also lose some share and delay the inevitable abdication of Java, but Kotlin being endorsed as effectively a better choice than Java has the potential to really shake up the industry. Where it goes will depend on future decisions that may be likely, but not set in stone, just as google anointing Kotlin was likely, but not set in stone. The less predictable part was that google would fund Kotlin moving to its own non-profit (but likely well subsidised) entity.
So now, a single language already targeting the JVM, the browser, and native code right down to Arduino with LLVM. This is new ground for computing. Kotlin promises not write once run anywhere, but write key code once and reuse everywhere that code is relevant. Only CLR is missing as a target, although there is a windows solution emerging. How an ever more open Microsoft will respond is not known, but JetBrains is already producing a .NET IDE! Another big question is whether a taste of success will derail JetBrains!
The future is does have questions, but this anointment of kotlin has the potential for a real change to the industry. There will be a new king, and while Kotlin is an anointed heir to Java, it is not clear who the new king will be yet. While Kotlin may one day take the throne, it is unlikely to be the very next king.
Overall Java will have a significant dip, and Kotlin will have a ‘bullet’ following the announcement. Ok, Java will not dip to same extent objective-c did, but it will be significant. So Java will have a first phase of ‘dip’ because of the announcement, and then a second dip as a consequence of the first dip reinforcing that Java is now an ‘out of favour’ as a language. Similarly Kotlin will get at least two ‘boosts’. Most likely within a year it will be on all top 10 lists, and possible even ahead of the 3yr old Swift, although Apple is really doing some pushing with swift.
The real impact is that unlike Swift, which ‘poached’ programmers from Objective-C, Kotlin has the potential to poach from Java, C, C++, Python, Javascript, and even others. There may even be enough impact on challegers to Java’s crown that these also lose some share and delay the inevitable abdication of Java, but Kotlin being endorsed as effectively a better choice than Java has the potential to really shake up the industry. Where it goes will depend on future decisions that may be likely, but not set in stone, just as google anointing Kotlin was likely, but not set in stone. The less predictable part was that google would fund Kotlin moving to its own non-profit (but likely well subsidised) entity.
So now, a single language already targeting the JVM, the browser, and native code right down to Arduino with LLVM. This is new ground for computing. Kotlin promises not write once run anywhere, but write key code once and reuse everywhere that code is relevant. Only CLR is missing as a target, although there is a windows solution emerging. How an ever more open Microsoft will respond is not known, but JetBrains is already producing a .NET IDE! Another big question is whether a taste of success will derail JetBrains!
The future is does have questions, but this anointment of kotlin has the potential for a real change to the industry. There will be a new king, and while Kotlin is an anointed heir to Java, it is not clear who the new king will be yet. While Kotlin may one day take the throne, it is unlikely to be the very next king.
Python+Kotlin = Python++ 
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