"If I were the boss, I'd set Python as the standard language for projects and give programmers a bonus for ending it up shorter than predicted ;) because Python will really raise your productivity."

Well, the problem is they would finish ahead of schedule but the code would look like perl...

"Once you know Python (or Ruby) you will never want to code in Java again! (declaring types sucks!)"

Java isn't all that bad, I actually like the language. Sure, it is like playing the piano with boxing gloves but, like I said, that's a requirement in most projects (where there's always someone that doesn't like playing by the rules and has to be coerced into it).

My real problem with Java (like mentioned by another poster) is the framework mentality. Not only you have all the (needed) rules enforced by the language itself, but you also have ginormous amounts of useless scaffolding code mandated by the frameworks (plus all the XML configuration files that Java people seem to love so much). What's wrong with a simple library is what really bugs me about Java.