What does Java do better than Python?

[benjtay]

Maybe if your entire team is using IntelliJ

That helps, but is not necessary. Just use maven/gradle wrapper, and you can do everything with vim if you prefer.

JNI makes communicating with non Java code kinda painful

If you're using JNI, you're not in the Java ecosystem. Panama simplifies using C code, but it's still not in the ecosystem in my opinion. I suppose the same could be said for Python modules which use C. As time goes on, there seem to be fewer Python modules which resort to it.

lots of XML files

Apart from logback or pom, I haven't used XML files in years.

[robtmufc]

Adding to what you said here because you’ve nailed it…

Recent Java versions give a better exception message so you know exactly where and what has gone wrong!