JDK 7 language changes - JavaEdge votes!

For the past few days I have been in the fabulous country of Israel at the JavaEdge conference. Duing the keynote speech, I presented 10 possible language changes for JDK7, and asked the audience to vote on them.

These results are in more depth than the Devoxx figures simply because we could extract information about each persons preferences. For academics or statisticians the raw data is available in Open Office format.

Given ten language changes, rank them according to priority

So, the question is the same basic question as we asked at Devoxx, but with a different selection of changes to pick from. The results show that 171 people voted correctly (starting from 1 for the first preference, 2 for the second and so on). Another 41 attendees voted mostly corrrectly, skipping one of the prefereces (for example marking a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th preference, but not a 4th). A final 113 attendees didn't follow the instructions at all, and marked multipe 1st preferences, multiple 2nd preferences and so on.

The features voted on were:

• For-each loop over a Map
• Control over for-each loops (index/remove)
• List/Map access using []
• Infer generics on the RHS
• Multi-catch of exceptions
• String switch
• String interpolation
• Multi line strings
• Resource management
• Null handling

These results are for those who completed the voting according to the rules (171 attendees).

Here are the first preference votes:

Adding the second preference votes:

Adding the third preference votes:

Adding the fourth preference votes:

Adding the fifth preference votes:

Adding the remaining votes (white is didn't vote, black is 'this is a bad idea':

Now those that almost voted according to the rules - votes are adjusted to move everything beyond the missing column up (41 attendees).

All votes:

Now those that voted based on general preference (103 attendees).

All votes:

So, what do these results tell us? (I'm focussing the analysis on those who voted fully according to the rules, as it is hard to interpret the results from those who simply gave arbitrary rankings).

As with the Devoxx results, there is a clear winner - null handling. Null handling had 50 first preference votes, double that of second place string switch and almost a third of all first preferences. This trend continued with almost two thirds placing it in their top four.

Other popular options were String Switch, Multi-catch of exceptions, enhanced for-each loop for Maps, enhancing the for-each loop to be able to remove or find the index and ARM-style resource management.

Unpopular options (especially considering the black 'bad idea' values) were List/Map access using [] and String interpolation (${variable} in strings).

Infer generics and multi-line strings were deemed of relatvely low importance but not particularly objectionable.

The other 144 votes that were not completely according to the rules are harder to interpret. If someone wants to give it a go, feel free to interpret the raw data.

Summary

Firstly, a big thank you to the JavaEdge voters, and to the AlphaCSP team in Israel. Again, we have some really interesting figures from this vote, with null handling again coming out top. Clearly, there needs to be some real thought about whether some form of null handling can be achieved.

Any feedback or thoughts are welcome!

JDK 7 language changes - Devoxx votes!

Once again, the great Devoxx conference allowed ordinary developers to express an opinion on the future of the Java language. This time, the focus was on prioritising which changes should happen.

The figures given below are of course indicative only. They are based on those Devoxx attendees who actually participated on the whiteboards. Also, the figures are as recorded at the end of Thursday (Friday scores not included). The whiteboard photos are available which provide additional information. Bear in mind that my figures may disagree with the photos in some small way based on when I counted the results relative to when the photos were taken.

Given eight language changes, rank them according to priority

This year, rather than simple "do you like this yes/no" questions, we posed something tougher. Prompted by Alex Buckley, we asked participants to rank eight language change proposals. Voters had to mark the number one against their highest priority, two against their next highest and so on until they had no more priorities. Attendees could also vote against a proposal by marking an 'X'.

The voting system was not the simplest, and we know a few people didn't vote correctly. However, we do believe that the vast majority did vote according to the rules making these results valid. The total number of voters was around 220, so the results have good validity.

Feature	Properties	Multi catch	Null handling	List/Map syntax	Extension meths	Method pointers	Multiline Strs	Infer generics
1	33	47	70	10	6	8	9	61
2	21	56	38	16	8	10	12	49
3	30	35	27	35	10	15	21	35
4	25	26	15	42	17	13	28	19
5	10	20	15	29	13	25	29	19
6	14	15	8	17	23	21	27	15
7	14	9	2	18	24	25	24	11
8	26	19	2	9	19	23	32	8
X	29	1	12	8	28	24	15	0
Total Votes	202	228	189	184	148	164	197	217
Total votes (excluding X)	173	227	177	176	120	140	182	217
Weighted average	4.08	3.41	2.49	4.32	5.36	5.25	5.16	3.07

Here are the first preference votes:

Adding the second preference votes:

Adding the third preference votes:

Adding the fourth preference votes:

Adding the remaining votes:

So, what do these results tell us?

Well, they are in fact amazingly clear. Null-handling was the first preference favourite by a small margin, ahead of Infering RHS generics and Multi-catch of exceptions. However, if particpants had been given just three votes, then these three would have scored almost exactly equal (135/145/138) and over double that of List/Map access (61).

Next in line (ignoring properties) was List/Map access using [], which can be seen by the big jump in third and fourth preference votes. Fifth was Mult-line strings, which developers seem to not be that fussed about.

Finally, extension methods and method pointers (method references) performed poorly in the vote.

Properties was shown to be the most divisive, with both a large number of votes for and against, and fewer in the middle preferences. For example, notice the high number of first preferences, but dropping back when adding second and third preferences. In addition, properties has a high number of low preferences and votes against (coloured black). Since properties isn't going to be included in JDK 7, the properties column is really just an interesting comparison data point.

Obviously in a free vote like this without any explanations, it is easy for people to not vote for items they don't understand. This could explain some the lower scores for Extension methods and Method references (see the total number of votes cast to confirm this). However, even taking this into account, these two don't seem to have as much support as the big three of Null-handling, Infering RHS generics and Multi-catch exceptions

It should also be noted that the graphs and the weighted averages are in line with one another.

Other language changes

In addition to the ranking above, there were some other votes.

The vote on closures was split 50/50:

Yes	41
No	41

The vote on abstract enums showed a majority in favour:

Yes	24
No	18

The vote on ARM (resource management) showed a large majority in favour:

Yes	64
No	11

The vote on some form of delegation showed a majority in favour:

Yes	36
No	9

The vote on for each over a string showed a majority in favour:

Yes	34
No	21

Summary

Firstly, a big thank you to the Devoxx voters, and to Stephan and the Devoxx organisers. I think this exercise was a huge success in participation. I'm certainly not in favour of language design by democracy, but I am very much in favour of gathering large scale information on what really causes developers pain. Clearly, handling nulls, RHS generics and catching exceptions are three big issues.

I hope to repeat the exercise again soon. And if any JUG (public or company internal) wants to do the same (maybe with different proposals) then I'd recommend it (and I've even got an Open Office presentation if you want some material - just drop me a line).

Any feedback or thoughts are welcome!

Devoxx 2008 - Whiteboard votes

Devoxx 2008 is over :-( But is was a great conference again. And Java really started to feel alive again with real discussions of JDK 7.

In this post I'll go through the general discussions that were held on the Devoxx whiteboards. The figures given are of course indicative only. They are based on those Devoxx attendees who actually participated on the whiteboards. Also, the figures are a record taken at the end of Thursday (Friday scores not included).

The whiteboard photos are also available which provide additional information. Bear in mind that my figures may disagree with the photos in some small way based on when I counted the results relative to when the photos were taken.

Are you considering using JavaFX ?

Java FX had its big conference launch at Devoxx. This question captured developers feelings about it:
   

Yes	62
Maybe	78
Next version	21
Never	45
What is jfx?	6

It seems clear that Devoxx attendees were pleasantly surprised by Java FX, and are thinking about using it.

What Testing Framework/Tools are you using ?

Testing is an essential developer activity, but what tools get used? I've broken out the big 3 unit testing tools here.
   

JUnit3	54
JUnit4	102
TestNG	23
Selenium	32
None	3
Testing?!	5
EasyMock	17
JMock	2
HTMLUnit	2
Fitnesse	3
SOAPUI	11
Cobertura	5

Obviously, a wide range of tools are in use, but in the unit test area JUnit still rules the roost.

REST vs SOAP

A hot topic with many developers who still have to try and convince sceptical managers that REST is a valid solution. I'm displaying the main numbers for the question here:
   

REST	50
SOAP	17
Both	30
JSON	6

So, developers prefer REST to SOAP. Somehow I'm not surprised!

What IDE/Editor do you use ?

A question that will always bring out strong opinions:
   

Eclipse	214
Netbeans	64
IntelliJ	126
Vi/vim	9
Textmate	6
Jdeveloper	5
Notepad++	7

I'd have expected a stronger showing for Eclipse than this. Maybe Eclipse users have less strong opinions about their tool as Netbeans and IntelliJ users?

Which Java VM are you using ?

How up to date are the versions of Java we use? The question asked Devoxx attendees to mark all they are using:
   

0.9b	2
1.0	3
1.1b	6
1.3	6
1.4	74
1.5	216
1.6	255
1.7	2
1.7 (patched)	4
1.7 (closures)	2
Java ME	13

So, more people are using Java 1.6 than Java 1.5. Interesting.

Checked exceptions ?

Checked exceptions are a feature essentially unique to Java. Many, like me, think they were a very bad idea. But what about Devoxx attendees:
   

Good idea	34
Bad idea	36
Both, It depends	6

Opinion seems split on this topic. Although I should note that the number of votes was lower on this issue, so maybe there is an element of "don't care".

What is your favourite JVM lang other than java ?

The JVM isn't only about Java now. What else are people using:
   

Groovy	49
Scala	30
JRuby	14
Jython	10
Fan	5
PHP	4
Clojure	5
Don't care	17

So, Groovy is looking pretty popular right now, with Scala seeing some good use. There is interest in additional languages too and this is healthy for the JVM's future (and personally, I was pleased to see Fan get 5 votes at this early stage in its life).

Summary

Thanks again to all the Devoxx voters. I'll write up about language change issues soon. Feel free to comment on any of the vote results.

Java 7 - small language changes

Todays news that there are likely to be language changes in JDK 7 was a bit of a surprise. It seemed like the chance had passed.

Small language changed for JDK 7

Joe's post isn't very long, but it is clear.

• "I'll be leading up Sun's efforts" - so its supported by Sun
• "develop a set of ... language changes - so its more than one change
• "small language changes" - small means no closures or properties
• "we'll first be running a call for proposals" - community involvment
• "in JDK 7" - in the next version (but why does the blog not say Java 7?)

I've used this blog, and previous visits to JavaPolis (now Devoxx) to discuss possible language changes. Some have been good ideas, others not so good. The main point was to provide a place for discussion.

The next phase after that was to implement some of the language changes. This has been achieved with the Kijaro project. As far as I'm concerned, anyone can write up an idea for a Java language change, and then I'll provide commit access at Kijaro for it to be implemented in javac - no questions asked.

Expectations

So, before we all submit lots of crazy ideas and get carried away, lets remember that Sun provided some hints at JavaOne 2008. This presentation includes the following as ruled out:

• Operator overloading (user defined)
• Dynamic typing
• Macros
• Multiple dispatch / multi-methods

And the following as 'under consideration':

• Multi-catch in exceptions
• Rethrowing exceptions

The following are listed as 'long term areas of interest':

• Parallel algorithms
• Versioning of interfaces
• Delegation
• Extension methods
• Structural typing
• Pluggable literal syntaxes

So, there is already quite a wide list on the table. Plus, there were other ideas suggested at last years JavaPolis, by both Josh and Neal:

• Variable declaration type inference (for generics)
• Enum comparisons
• Switch statement for strings
• Chained invocations, even when method returns void

In addition to all the above, I strongly suspect that there isn't going to be a chance to tackle problems with generics. This is similar to closures and properties. There isn't the timesclae or manpower to tackle these big issues in the timeframe being talked about (especially now Neal Gafter works for Microsoft).

My ideas

Well, I'll mostly save those for another day. But I would like to see a proper consideration of enhancements to help with null handling. And enhancments to the for-each loop.

Saying NO!

Finally, an appeal to Sun. Many in the community are deeply sceptical of any language changes at this point. The message should be simple - people need to feel that there is a clear means to vote or argue AGAINST a proposal, just as much as to make suggestions FOR change. Although I don't expect to make much use of the facility, I know there are many that do want to express this opinion.

Summary

This is a new departure for Sun in so openly asking for ideas from the community. We need to respond and reply with thoughtful ideas for what will and will not work.