Java Trends in 2022

Java, as a programming language most commonly used by developers, what's the trends in 2022? Let's take a look at the Java trends in 2022 shared by JRebel Product Manager Curtis Johnson and Development Head Michael Rasmussen.

Will Java 11 be the next Java 8?

Although Java 11 and Java 17 are two newly launched Java LTS versions, the number of users has been in a sluggish state. In fact, the number of users of LTS versions other than Java 8 has been unsatisfactory. A survey by Snyk showed that developers are mainly using Java 8 at this stage, rather than upgrading to a newer version. According to the survey, 61.5% of respondents use Java 11 for some part of their programming, and half of those respondents use Java 8 for some part of their stack creation. And JRebel's Java Developer Productivity Report also shows that Java 8 is still the most used Java version by developers. 

Source: JRebel

Michael Rasmussen, head of development at JRebel, said that Java 17 is not supposed to reach as many users as Java 8, but we still can expect the number of developers of Java 11.

The users of VS Code is on the rise

The number of users of VS Code (a multi-language integrated development environment) has been increasing in recent years. According to JRebel 2020 Java Developer Productivity Report, 10% of respondents are using VS Code, and this proportion increased to 27% in 2021. Although the survey data comes from different respondents each year, its growth is still significant. 

Source: JRebel

Curtis Johnson said that the growth in VS Code users should be attributed to their team. They've done a great job of embedding the tools in the existing community, and they've also made VS Code more comfortable for developers to use with multilingual application development. Therefore, the increase in the number of users of VS Code is inevitable.

Spring Boot alternative catches spotlight

While Spring and Spring Boot are still the dominant frameworks for Java, their positions are being impacted by other frameworks such as Micronaut and Quarkus. Especially when developers are considering microservice specific frameworks, more and more are choosing Micronaut and Quarkus over Spring and Spring Boot. 

Source: JRebel

Michael Rasmussen said that Micronaut and Quarkus have gained more share in the Java framework market than everyone thought, and even with the release of Spring Boot 3 in the second half of 2022, the fact that Micronaut and Quarkus will get a slice of the cake in the microservice framework market may be hard to change.

Decline in usage of non-Java LTS versions

Officials may find ways to further reduce the number of users of non-Java LTS versions due to the proposed changes in the Java release cadence and LTS release schedule, even though the non-Java LTS version has never been used by as many people as the LTS version.

Michael Rasmussen said: ”There’s an interesting paradox with this change. The heightened cadence will mean that minor upgrades will be relatively painless, which could draw more usage of minor versions. But on the other side of the coin, because LTS versions will likely be available every two years, it might not make sense to adopt intermediary releases if the next LTS is always less than two years away.”