Evolutionary Goo

No longer are conversation about what is the best Java Web framework very interesting. With the onslaught of new programming languages for the JVM, that conversation has shifted to one about which technologies make the best mix for a Java Web application. There are so many languages and framework available for the JVM today, that the Web framework itself is no longer a major concern. Its really about what language you want to be coding in which layer.

I am very excited about the upcoming year. The recession has held back many of the new technologies from taking off in a big way on the JVM in 2009. However, JVM enthusiasts have been hard at work learning and innovating with the many new languages and technologies available today. When the economy picks, I have no doubt we will see dramatic changes in the JVM technology landscape.

I thought it would be interesting to see what the job scene looks like for the various JVM languages out there. The languages I chose to feature on my Indeed.com trend chart were Groovy, JRuby, Jython, Rhino, Scala and Clojure. The order in which I listed them is the order I figured they would be in, with Groovy being the highest and Clojure being the lowest. Based on the results below, I was correct on the highest and lowest. However, its the results in the middle that are the most interesting. Jython is neck and neck with Groovy for the top spot. JRuby is second to last and in decline. Scala looks to be on the rise. Can we trust these results as a barometer for the future of these languages on the JVM? Let me know what you think.

You can click on the image below to go to Indeed.com and see a larger version of the chart.