People like to bash Java because it can take it. It's the status quo, the most popular programming language in the world (see: http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/co

People like to bash Java because it can take it. It's the status quo, the most popular programming language in the world (see: http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index....). That's what innovation is all about - surpassing the status quo. It's the most popular language in the world for a reason. There are lots of great things about Java, some a direct result of it's popularity: Fantastic tools, a tonne of very mature and reliable open source libraries, great performance in most situations, and last but not least: A tonne of jobs. By no means is Java dying. A lot of sexy new technologies are rooted in Java. Here's 3 popular among the HNers: Clojure, Cassandra, and JRuby. You wanna hack on any of these, you better know Java. Java is far from perfect but it's also very far from horrible. It is most definitely useful. Take the course. You'll learn a lot.