4 ms·

This is big news. Java should have had this one from the start. My question is, what took so long? What prevented it?

by anon3_ 11y ago

istvan__ 11y ago
The lack of interest. If you haven't used a language that has a REPL you don't know how powerful it is. Most of the Java devs I know haven't used REPL with any other language.
ayanamist 11y ago
In fact, JavaREPL (http://www.javarepl.com/ http://www.javarepl.com/) with its standalone version exists for very long time.
andor 11y ago
I'd say that Java's verbosity doesn't lend itself well to interactive use. There are quite a few REPLs that allow calling Java code from another language, e.g. the integrated Javascript interpreters (run `jjs` in a terminal), BeanShell, Jython, JRuby, etc.
- Elrac 11y ago
  Don't forget Groovy! It's expressly built to bring "dynamic feeling" to Java.
  - olavgg 11y ago
    And don't forget that Java can call Groovy code ;-)
aurora72 11y ago
Several months ago I wanted to have an REPL for C and couldn't find anything satisfactory and I had the similar thought: Why weren't there any decent REPL for C ?
- userbinator 11y ago
  Have you looked at these? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9641832 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9641832 https://root.cern.ch/drupal/content/cling https://root.cern.ch/drupal/content/cling http://blog.pclewis.com/2010/03/tip-using-gdb-as-an-interactive-c-shell/ http://blog.pclewis.com/2010/03/tip-using-gdb-as-an-interact...
LoSboccacc 11y ago
Beanshell was there since 1999
- sam_lowry_ 11y ago
  Yes, finally someone remembered it! Reinventing the wheel is so human...
  - LoSboccacc 11y ago
    I know right? But if you say groovy and the like are just respin of age old stuff they treat you like an old fart And to think that when I advocated for writing business logic in a scripted language in 2003 everyone was looking at me like I was crazy (well italy is always quite behind last trends, so while in the states they were starting with scripting languages we were still writing ejb with xml - and we still do in many places)
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
copperx 11y ago
This is nothing new. When I was at uni (10+ years ago), we used DrJava, which includes a Java REPL.
zak_mc_kracken 11y ago
All Java IDE's have offered an interactive shell for years so there is little need for a REPL. It's just a nice thing to have but nothing more.

This is big news. Java should have had this one from the start. My question is, what took so long? What prevented it?

by anon3_ 11y ago

This is big news. Java should have had this one from the start. My question is, what took so long? What prevented it?

The lack of interest. If you haven't used a language that has a REPL you don't know how powerful it is. Most of the Java devs I know haven't used REPL with any other language.

ayanamist 11y ago

In fact, JavaREPL (http://www.javarepl.com/ http://www.javarepl.com/) with its standalone version exists for very long time.

andor 11y ago

I'd say that Java's verbosity doesn't lend itself well to interactive use. There are quite a few REPLs that allow calling Java code from another language, e.g. the integrated Javascript interpreters (run `jjs` in a terminal), BeanShell, Jython, JRuby, etc.

Elrac 11y ago
Don't forget Groovy! It's expressly built to bring "dynamic feeling" to Java.
- olavgg 11y ago
  And don't forget that Java can call Groovy code ;-)

aurora72 11y ago

Several months ago I wanted to have an REPL for C and couldn't find anything satisfactory and I had the similar thought: Why weren't there any decent REPL for C ?

userbinator 11y ago
Have you looked at these? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9641832 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9641832 https://root.cern.ch/drupal/content/cling https://root.cern.ch/drupal/content/cling http://blog.pclewis.com/2010/03/tip-using-gdb-as-an-interactive-c-shell/ http://blog.pclewis.com/2010/03/tip-using-gdb-as-an-interact...

LoSboccacc 11y ago

Beanshell was there since 1999

sam_lowry_ 11y ago
Yes, finally someone remembered it! Reinventing the wheel is so human...
- LoSboccacc 11y ago
  I know right? But if you say groovy and the like are just respin of age old stuff they treat you like an old fart And to think that when I advocated for writing business logic in a scripted language in 2003 everyone was looking at me like I was crazy (well italy is always quite behind last trends, so while in the states they were starting with scripting languages we were still writing ejb with xml - and we still do in many places)
deleted 11y ago
[deleted]

copperx 11y ago

This is nothing new. When I was at uni (10+ years ago), we used DrJava, which includes a Java REPL.

zak_mc_kracken 11y ago

All Java IDE's have offered an interactive shell for years so there is little need for a REPL. It's just a nice thing to have but nothing more.