8 Reasons You Should Learn Java in 2019

Is Java still relevant in 2019? Yes it is. It’s time you learn Java, too. This article will cover eight reasons why you need to dive into learning Java this year. First, Java is easy to learn. Next, it has a rich API with which to develop and the development tools make learning easy as well. Java is an Object Oriented Programming language with mountains of open source libraries to choose from. The community support is truly massive. It can run anywhere and because of this, it is everywhere.

1. Easy to Learn Java

Let’s start here. Java is an easy-to-read language. It uses fluent English at its core. It doesn’t have strange characters that are difficult to remember. Most people can sit down and read well-written code fairly easily. The language’s reserved word list is easy to remember. This allows developers to easily write readable code. There are many tutorials available for free on the web.

Java is still a hot market. There were just under 19,000 jobs listed on Dice.com for Java at the time of this writing. It is the most popular language according to the TIOBE index. Yes there are many languages that have been catching up in popularity and downloads, but for overall usage, Java is still at the top. There are many developers available and many companies have legacy code to support.

2. Rich API

There are incentives for using Java. When a developer sits down to learn Java there are out-of-the-box packages available. I/O is package designed to allow for reading and writing files. Database connections are used to connect to databases like MySQL, Oracle, and others. There is support for XML parsing built in. There is also networking packages for connecting to other systems.

3. Development Tools

This area may make the journey to learn Java the most attractive. The tooling for Java is very rich. The integrated development environments (IDE) make learning and using Java extremely easy. Some examples of these are Eclipse, Netbeans and IntelliJ. There is no need to use a text editor, although you can. There is code completion available in these editors that allow a developer to see all of the options available. The IDEs make searching for code simple. Refactoring or cleaning up code is extremely easy to do. These all play a part in fast, reliable and clean code writing.

Other tooling such as Maven or Gradle for building projects, organizing dependencies and running tests are available for large or small projects. There are also continuous building tools which allow for your company to follow Agile principles.

4. Object Oriented Programming

Java is an object oriented programming language. This means that it uses classes, abstractions, inheritance and polymorphism. Whoa, what did we just say? We won’t dig too much into this in this article, but suffice to say that Java can be written to easily represent objects in the real world and inherit features from parents. For example, a Vehicle class represents all “vehicles” and a child that inherits from it could be a motorcycle, car, truck or van. This allows for developers to write things fewer times and share code across a project.

This is a highly sought after feature in programming languages especially in enterprises. The ability to write less code and be able to share it among the corporation is critical to saving time and money.

5. Community Support

When a new developer wants to learn Java, they have a ton of resources for help. There are tutorials, videos, documentation and discussion forums. There is no lack of answers for those searching for a way to build a file or connect to a database. Sites like Stackoverflow.com have helped developers at all levels with their code. From novice to expert, it makes no difference. The Java community is happy to help in most instances and usually without cost.

There is no single way to do anything. Most things developers are asked to do have been done before. All they need to do is search for answers in their favorite search engine. These ideas will help cultivate a strong environment for any developer community in a business.

6. Open Source Libraries

Open source libraries have allowed developers to leverage work done by other developers usually at no cost to an organization. These open source libraries such as Spring and Apache Commons have allowed companies to reach high levels of development in a short amount of time. They bring expertise in house without necessarily needing the expert themselves.

7. Java Runs Anywhere

A pivotal point and game changer with Java is its ability to be used anywhere. All that is needed is the JVM, Java virtual machine, and it will run. This feature allows it to be used and installed on anything from PCs, Macs, Linux machines, phones and smart devices. The running code is largely the same.

8. Java is Everywhere

Have you watched Netflix lately? That’s right, Netflix is running on Java. Not only does Netflix run on Java, but much of their technology behind it is open sourced. That means a company wanting to do some similar work can leverage it.

Android is a Java-based OS and it of course is widely distributed today. From phones to tablets to TVs, Java is all over the place and it has been used for close to three decades to build software solutions.

Java has a very strong presence in the REST space. Many companies are developing the back-end code for RESTful interfaces using Java. Why? It is powerful, reliable and easy to support.

Conclusion

As we have seen, Java is easy to learn, has a rich API, has strong development tools, and is Object Oriented Programming. There are mountains of open source libraries and a huge community of support is available. It can run anywhere and because of this it is everywhere. If you would like to engage FHG on a Java or other project, contact us here to start the conversation.