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Java is still available at zero-cost

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Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#2
Java moving to 6 month release cycles is good. OpenJDK is good. RedHat providing long term support is good. All of this is good.

Where I'm worried this fails is with dependencies. Also in the context of developing plugins for other Java projects. For example building a plugin for IntelliJ and the different versions of IntelliJ users may have.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#3
post #2

Java moving to 6 month release cycles is good. OpenJDK is good. RedHat providing long term support is good. All of this is good. Where I'm worried this fails is with dependencies. Also in the context of developing plugins for other Java projects. For example building a plugin for IntelliJ and the different versions of IntelliJ users may have.

Is this a major concern? Isn't this part of why Java works to maintain backwards compatibility?

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#4
what worries me most is the muscle memory of developers downloading Oracle jdk from oracle. If Oracle keeps is dark patterns, thousands of developers will be using the commercial tool and on the hook for license fees.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#5
post #2

Java moving to 6 month release cycles is good. OpenJDK is good. RedHat providing long term support is good. All of this is good. Where I'm worried this fails is with dependencies. Also in the context of developing plugins for other Java projects. For example building a plugin for IntelliJ and the different versions of IntelliJ users may have.

Java has legendary backwards compatibility and has had that since the first public release. That’s not going anywhere.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#6
post #2

Java moving to 6 month release cycles is good. OpenJDK is good. RedHat providing long term support is good. All of this is good. Where I'm worried this fails is with dependencies. Also in the context of developing plugins for other Java projects. For example building a plugin for IntelliJ and the different versions of IntelliJ users may have.

It's rare that Java the language or the JDK breaks backward-compatibility. Code without generics, for example, still compiles with JDK 10, albeit with a bunch of warnings, so long as you specify an appropriate language level.

The ABI, however, can and does break, usually when one of your dependencies updates to a language level not supported by your toolchain or runtime environment. The common solutions are to update your toolchain and language level, "desugar" the artifact if possible, or to not update the dependency. This is something the Android world has been dealing with for a long time (since Java 8 was introduced) and it's not a completely terrible situation.

The problem you mention regarding IntelliJ and its (lack of) stable APIs has more to do with IntelliJ than the languages used or the tools with which it is built.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#7
post #2

Java moving to 6 month release cycles is good. OpenJDK is good. RedHat providing long term support is good. All of this is good. Where I'm worried this fails is with dependencies. Also in the context of developing plugins for other Java projects. For example building a plugin for IntelliJ and the different versions of IntelliJ users may have.

Java has full backward compatibility.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#8
post #4

what worries me most is the muscle memory of developers downloading Oracle jdk from oracle. If Oracle keeps is dark patterns, thousands of developers will be using the commercial tool and on the hook for license fees.

That is not how it works.

You can download the Oracle JDK and use it forever, commercially, for free. You just won't get updates backported to your version unless you pay for long term support.

Re: Java is still available at zero-cost

#10
post #4

what worries me most is the muscle memory of developers downloading Oracle jdk from oracle. If Oracle keeps is dark patterns, thousands of developers will be using the commercial tool and on the hook for license fees.

If you are a professional writing Java code, nine times out of ten someone in your org will be responsible for volume licensing.
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