Is Java dead?

While studying in the university at the turn of the millennium, Java was described as the programming solution to pretty much everything, and Java processors running bytecode in hardware were the future promise of embedded systems. 

Well,  Java processors never really made their way into mainstream, and nowadays you never hear anything of them. In the context of embedded systems, Java by itself is now performing similar act of dissappearance.

Last week I attended Embedded Conference Scandinavia as a speaker and exhibitor. ECS is the leading embedded event in the Nordics. Good for making contacts; compact and very well focused.

This year at ECS, I didn't heard anyone talking about Java or presenting any Java-based solutions. In the context of embedded systems, Java simply doesn't exists anymore - If it ever really existed? Last year I wrote about my toughs on java: Java for embedded - does it really make sense? (Sept. 2013). This year I'm even more convinced it really doesn't make sense, and other people are more and more thinking alike.

Snapshot of Freescale presentation slide at ECS.
MQTT, Node-RED, Node-JS, Bluemix and mbed promoted.

At ECS, I gave presentation about issues like MQTT, Node-RED, Node.js and Bluemix, and how to utilize them when creating embedded solutions. Just like I have done in numerous previous postings in this blog series. I was delighted to see I'm not alone with my message, companies like Freescale and Multitech also openly promoted the very same technologies and gave presentations at ECS.

If not Java, what then? ARM mbed platform is really gaining momentum now, and the ecosystem is growing with increasing acceleration. Freescale, IBM, Multitech, they all promote and support mbed Today. My first experiences with mbed are reported in Internet of Things with help of ARM (Aug. 2013).

Death of Java is not a tragedy. Instead it gives more space for proper programming technologies like mbed, Node.js and Node-RED. Think of world with Java never invented - all the millions of man years of wasted effort used for something useful...