Java Magazine - March/April 2012

//from the editor /

t’s certainly a pleasure to draw attention to the new Java developers around the world. Until the past year or so, few would argue that the Java ecosystem had stagnated. The anti-Java forces had their knives out, and the haters were doing what they do best.

Things have changed now. Java SE 7 is available, and Java SE 8 is on the way; Java developer conferences around the world are selling out in short order; Java skills are in high demand by recruiters; and the Java community is reinvigorated thanks to efforts including the OpenJDK project, the Adopt-a-JSR program, and—if I may be so bold—even this publication. Furthermore, we are in the midst of a Golden Age of Programming Languages, in which the most-exciting candidates all target the Java Virtual Machine, as well as a Golden Age of Web-scale Applications, for which Java technology is turning out to be the path to success (just ask Twitter).

As one speaker at the recent Jfokus conference in Sweden remarked, “Java isn’t dying—it has grown up and is giving birth to its children.” I couldn’t have come up with a more apt statement as a theme for this issue.

In this issue’s cover story, “The New Java Developers,” Tori Wieldt profiles a
small selection of young (ages 18 to 27) Java developers from around the world.

The story is truly inspirational. These young people span cultural, geographical, and intellectual divides, but they all have one thing in common: a passion for Java technology, the same passion that we all saw in other developers their age back in the 1990s. The baton has been passed—and the community can take comfort in its own renewal.