Look Ma' I'm a Java Champion!

It is official! I am a Java Champion!

A couple of weeks ago, Agnès Crépet sponsored me for joining this coveted group. Not only that, but she stood up to defend my nomination. That’s not easy for a French guy who didn’t write a book and never talked at JavaOne. But even if I did neither, if think my involvement in the Java community is visible.

For many years, I’ve been blogging, talking in public, participating to Open Source projects. With my friend Jean-Laurent, we’ve organised the Code-Story coding contest for people like us. You know, the ones who love coding. I’ve been a member of Devoxx France technical comity from the very beginning (btw this year is gonna be a great year). I’ve been promoting Java for all those years. And I still do. Why? Because I love Java, both the language and its ecosystem.

Of course it is! It’s just not the same Java it was ten years ago. It changed. It’s grown up. And still, my message to every conference attendee and every JUG participant has always been the same:

Java is no exception. It was developed to be a simple language but its pitfalls and the diversity of its ecosystem make it hard for developers to know everything they should know. Developers should write code that is easy to write, easy to maintain. They should write tests. They should develop fast to quickly get rid of what’s useless. Java makes it possible. You just have to learn how.

It’s always been true. It’s never been so true. I don’t just write Java. I write applications and Web sites. I write Javascript, CoffeeScript, Ruby. I write tests, web pages, stylesheets, documents. I try lots of new languages. I look in every direction. I change my mind. I search for simplicity. Sometimes that’s done with a complex assembly of tools and libraries. That’s what makes our industry fun and challenging.

And there’s sometimes I pretty sure of: Java 8 is going to reinforce the Java platform. Java 8 is my new best friend.

I’ve been coding with Java 8 for more than a year. And I love it! Every talk I’ve been doing for about 6 months uses Java 8. Now writing code with Java 7 is so painful. Go switch! Now! It is ready and you’re going to love it.

Long live Java!