I agree. "var" as proposed is dumbing down Java. If there's an intelligent way to infer the interface, not the implementation, then I'd accept it, but otherwise

I agree. "var" as proposed is dumbing down Java. If there's an intelligent way to infer the interface, not the implementation, then I'd accept it, but otherwise, it's the JavaScriptification if Java given most IDEs can autocomplete this and let you correct if they assume wrongly.