> For personal projects I would never ever use java just because the amount of friction around builds and packaging is so terrible. As a counterpoint, I do ten

> For personal projects I would never ever use java just because the amount of friction around builds and packaging is so terrible. As a counterpoint, I do tend to use the JVM for personal projects, but I'm also pretty strict about keeping complexity out of the build and deploy process. What that means, practically speaking, is that I compile to uberjars, and deploy as Unix services. I also have a little library that makes it easier to use an embedded in-process database for persistence. There are surely limitations to this approach, but I don't have enough time for my side projects to get to the point where I ever hit them. So I wind up in a spot where I can generally focus on whatever the small goal of the project is.