What convinced me to consider Java just recently is GraalVM. I don't know about the "dirty" part, but at least GraalVM might solve the "bloated" part. Compiling

What convinced me to consider Java just recently is GraalVM. I don't know about the "dirty" part, but at least GraalVM might solve the "bloated" part. Compiling to native standalone executables makes a big difference to what Java is traditionally known for (portable bytecode but requiring the JVM). Been using C++ and C# for a long time now, and my pet peeves with these languages were also only just addressed relatively recently (C++ getting modules and native AOT for C#). Java being able to get natively compiled makes it worth considering among these. Now, for me, it's a matter of what other frameworks/libraries available for the respective languages would get the job done while I only have to rewrite little to switch among them if I try my best to stay within their syntax overlap.