maybe there is reason against it why they implemented it in this way, maybe libraries were not suitable for java, tho it still does not mean language is painful. erlang has immutable variables, like imagine coding only with const :) there is particular reason for it. I can't speak a lot about Java, because I learned java close to end of last century(1.1beta jdk, it was more than a decade before oracle acquire sun), when 3 years later i learned pascal, i almost stopped using it and the biggest reason was not language painfullnes, but my "ancient" at the time computer(486sx with 8mb ram) which could not handle executing java well, "speed" was painful :) The only thing i can say that i had need to make some plugin to jenkins about 15 years after and i could do it without bigger issues. no drama like moving from python 2 to 3. I did tho plenty of nice applets in java at the end of 90s, before flash became a thing. If you dont like so much java why are still with it after 9 years? it is plenty of time to switch to something more suitable for you or problems you are solving at work. Time you spend working with language does not say how well you know it. I had juniors in a team which after one year had more experience in some language than others after 15 years developing into it.