[steve_barham]

As a fairly experienced Java developer, I don't agree with this article. It reads more like a desperate fantasy, than a reasoned argument.

The rapidity with which you can get started with other languages and frameworks has very little to do with the runtime performance, and a lot more to do with language flexibility and the 'sweet spot' which frameworks choose to occupy. I don't think Java is a bad language, but there's problems which I would not choose to solve in it.

The looming presence of Java 8 is likely to catalyze a new set of libraries, as people adjust to writing with lambdas, and the new power provided by the expanded type system and runtime. I'm anticipating a tsunami of lambda enabled crap, and some gems of design to emerge glistening from the initial torrent.

I don't think this will dramatically alter people's perceptions of Java as a language for rapid web development, though.