Java as a language is decent. It's boring. It is stagnant. I expect very little of it.
Java EE is an atrocity and it is just an over-enginnered pile of garbage.
Try play framework. I just finished a webapp in play and the whole experience has been awesome. IntelliJ + Play + MongoDB is AWESOME.
I haven't messed with the Scala version, but I can imagine that Scala + Play is even more interesting. Either way, Java EE/EJB/XMLHell is probably my most people hate Java. Also, Swing was garbage too, but who builds desktop apps in Java anymore anyway?
Which version of Java EE you refer to? Last time I checked, Java EE6 is pretty sweet.
Keep in mind that the latest EE6 spec and most modern Java frameworks make XML optional (supported only for backward compatibility or just because it's there).
Play! Scala is really, really, really cool. The major downside--drink if you're expecting this one, folks--is the recompile time. Building an app is just so bleeping slow.
But writing it? Very nice, aside from the somewhat iffy SQL layer. (I'm not a huge ORM fan, and the process of actually writing SQL through Anorm can be problematic.)
For our app, we went straight up MongoDB driver. We didn't mess with an ORM at all. We still have our objects that end up mapping to Mongo, just not using a 3rd party lib. It's actually a really clean and enjoyable experience.
JRebel isn't applicable to Play - Play (both when running Java and Scala) hosts its own compiler. In dev mode, when you change a .java or .scala file, it recompiles it and reloads it on the fly.
Which is why Play is freaking awesome--well, one of the reasons.
Java EE is an atrocity and it is just an over-enginnered pile of garbage.
Try play framework. I just finished a webapp in play and the whole experience has been awesome. IntelliJ + Play + MongoDB is AWESOME.
I haven't messed with the Scala version, but I can imagine that Scala + Play is even more interesting. Either way, Java EE/EJB/XMLHell is probably my most people hate Java. Also, Swing was garbage too, but who builds desktop apps in Java anymore anyway?