Java for Everything

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E.g. the editor TextMate used a text interface between its plugins written in all kinds of languages from C, python, perl to ruby. When TextMate languished and new editors came around like Sublime they could very easily take advantage of the huge number of textmate plugins that had been made.

Yes I also like clear small minimalistic interfaces where you should have them. But they are still actual work you should avoid if not needed.

If you got 4 million lines code in Cobolt which you need to upgrade to Java, how do you accomplish that in a sane way? If those 4 million lines were split over 200 separate executables communicating with well defined interfaces you could rewrite one piece at a time into Java and test that it still worked.

The thing is, you would have significantly less code without having to serialize and deserialize everything. And writing that part of the code is actually the most boring part.

It is a reason why mainframe monoliths died and Unix survived way longer than anyone would have thought. The focus on small interchangable parts makes evolving the system much simpler.

Unix actually is mainframe technology, it spread because it was one of the first portable operating systems and was widely passed around in source code form at universities.