Weekly Links: October 1, 2020

Java

AdoptOpenJDK 15 Available

I missed this the last two times: Just a day after JDK 15 was released, AdoptOpenJDK released their versions of JDK 15. According to the “JVM Ecosystem Report 2020” from code security company Snyk, AdoptOpenJDK is the most popular distribution of OpenJDK at a 24% market share (Oracle’s JDK had 34%). That’s based on developer responses from the second half of 2019. We’ll get updated numbers next February, I suppose. And don’t forget that AdoptOpenJDK is the only place where you can get the Eclipse OpenJ9 JVM! OpenJ9 puts your JVM applications on a memory diet.

Spring One Videos in YouTube Playlist

Last week I reported that the Spring One videos were online but required registration. Not anymore: They now have a proper playlist in the SpringDeveloper YouTube channel. Dear Spring team: Can we skip the registration crap next year and go straight to the YouTube playlist? Thank you.

A Picture of Java in 2020

Jetbrains, makers of IntelliJ and other IDEs, surveyed the state of Java. Here are the highlights: 5.2 million professional developers use Java as their primary language — half of them work in Asia. Web services are the most popular software developed with Java, and Finance & FinTech has the highest use of Java (closely followed by IT Services). This one goes out to VMware: 61% of all Java developers use Spring Boot.

Databases

PostgreSQL 13 Released

The self-proclaimed “world’s most advanced open source database” made its annual September release. I’ve used it for two years now and am happy with it, but then I haven’t really pushed it, either. This year’s improvements benefit large databases and demanding workloads. Well, I reckon they deserve some care! The link above has more details about what’s new. The 13.0 Docker images are now available, too.

Software Development

From YAGNI to YDNIY

You may have heard of “YAGNI”: You Ain’t Gonna Need It. It’s a reminder to only put into your applications what you really need, not what you think you may need at some point. Sounds good, right? Well, a Python developer argues that there are some things you will need, but you delay them so that you can release something right now. He coined the phrase “YDNIY”: You Don’t Need It Yet. His example a Python profiler that started out on Linux and would eventually run on the Mac. So “runs on Mac” is the delayed feature. Now you could argue that had he ever abandoned the profiler before he even got to “runs on Mac”, it would have been a “YAGNI situation”… Anyhow, it’s a short read and worthwhile.