I'd always had the impression that this was the case, but when I started to program in Erlang after several years of Java it became clear to me how true this is

I'd always had the impression that this was the case, but when I started to program in Erlang after several years of Java it became clear to me how true this is. Java has been adding features that improve expressiveness, and from the perspective of a strictly Java programmer they are great. From the outside though, it feels like these new features still take way more work than should be necessary. I appreciate what Java was meant to be (a way to drag C/C++ programmers closer to Lisp) and I would say that's a goal that has been achieved. I just wish it were easier to go the rest of the way.