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[NoOneSpecial]

You never seem to hear much about people using Java nowadays (C++ seems to be the dominate language). Does anyone here use Java for something relating to gamedev?

Note: These assumptions come from my ~2 days on this forum, so they're probably wrong 

[EtmosCode]

I do! I am not the only one. There are a lot of us over at JGO. (Not sure if I'm allowed to link that forum...but you can google it. 5th result down) Java is my favorite language, so that was my incentive to make a game in that language.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Nothing wrong with using Java. It just hasn't taken off like some other languages. LWJGL was a fine framework the last time I used it.

[Shashwah]

People like the speed of C++, it's definitely a bonus that it's a compiled language but Java has it's own uses as what it is.
Java is a lot more forgiving, making it much easier to learn how to use it and makes it easier to fix everything when you flip up and things break.
I've dabbled in both, mostly C++ but I will say for someone learning how to use Java or who just wants to get into game dev I really recommend Java but anything larger or much more complicated I would recommend trying out C++, it's a lot harsher but it'll definitely teach you a lot about how programs work and how much you have to think about when it comes to saving memory and things like that.

[Dacke]

Java is the most used programming language, generally.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-2015-top-ten-programming-languages

I think it's fairly big in gamedev as well, because of Android. But I don't have any numbers.

Java has always been my main language, but I'm looking for a way out because of how Oracle is trying to ruin it (and all of programming). Weirdly enough, Microsoft's C# is starting to look like the lesser evil. As a language C# seems nicer, and against my better judgment I may actually have to trust Microsoft's ability to handle open source stuff (despite their horrendous track record)

[dancing_dead]

java is used here and there in gamedev, a lot more on mobile (thx, libgdx ). it's actually plenty fast for most use cases.

but, yeah, like Dacke said, Oracle has been persistently trying to sink their own ship...
with that being said, java is used everywhere, and will still be around for quite some time.

[oahda]

Java for me is a language for writing applications, not games.

But of course, Android is Java-based. That's quite something. My only Android game was still C++ bound to Java tho.

[NoOneSpecial]

Java for me is a language for writing applications, not games.

But of course, Android is Java-based. That's quite something. My only Android game was still C++ bound to Java tho.

I assume there was some JNI going on behind the scenes. Did you do it yourself or did you use a preexisting framework for it?

[ProgramGamer]

Wasn't Minecraft programmed in Java?

[Dacke]

It is indeed. Back in the day you could play it as a Java applet in the browser.

[ProgramGamer]

Yep, remember that, good ol' times.

[InfiniteStateMachine]

Java is the most used programming language, generally.
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/the-2015-top-ten-programming-languages

I think it's fairly big in gamedev as well, because of Android. But I don't have any numbers.

Java has always been my main language, but I'm looking for a way out because of how Oracle is trying to ruin it (and all of programming). Weirdly enough, Microsoft's C# is starting to look like the lesser evil. As a language C# seems nicer, and against my better judgment I may actually have to trust Microsoft's ability to handle open source stuff (despite their horrendous track record)

Their track record lately has been quite good. Just remember they are really like 16 companies :D



IIRC they don't really own the C# language itself. It's an ECMA thing (although the more you dive into the specifics the more confusing it gets).

[oahda]

Java for me is a language for writing applications, not games.

But of course, Android is Java-based. That's quite something. My only Android game was still C++ bound to Java tho.

I assume there was some JNI going on behind the scenes. Did you do it yourself or did you use a preexisting framework for it?

Yeah. I used SDL 2.

[Dacke]

Their track record lately has been quite good. Just remember they are really like 16 companies :D

Hm, yeah, which is why I'm considering trusting them. But there is always that risk that a more evil part of the monster will decide to eat the good parts. Microsoft has a tendency to promise big things and then completely ditch or corrupt old projects. Microsoft also has a terrible track record with respecting established standards, so C# kind of being standardized isn't necessarily a good guarantee. As soon as they have a dominant position they love to move away from standardization/compatibility in order to get a lock-in on people. But Oracle is much worse at the moment anyway, so, blerghblergh.

[NoOneSpecial]

[...]

But Oracle is much worse at the moment anyway, so, blerghblergh.

This. I tend to look over Oracle's crap unless it influences how programmer program (hah, tiny alliteration there). If their CEO woke up tomorrow and said "Hm. Today seems like a good day to get rid of ints and make people use longs from now on.", of course I'd be incredibly pissed. Hopefully they won't pull something like than anytime soon, but you never know..

[Dacke]

They have decided that APIs should be copyrightable, which can seriously ruin all of programming for everyone forever.

For example, using C in the US may be illegal at this very moment, because the specification/API belongs to Bell Labs.

Oracle has also messed up the development of Java as a language, making community representatives resign in disgust. Which will likely lead to a poor development of the language.

[NoOneSpecial]

They have decided that APIs should be copyrightable, which can seriously ruin all of programming for everyone forever.

For example, using C in the US may be illegal at this very moment, because the specification/API belongs to Bell Labs.

Oracle has also messed up the development of Java as a language, making community representatives resign in disgust. Which will likely lead to a poor development of the language.

Oh goodness. I wish Sun had kept Java, at least they knew how to develop it and not screw over applets and Google.

[Cheezmeister]

Yeah. I used SDL 2.

I don't mean to derail, but how hard was it to wire that up with JNI, ADK and everything? Like, what was your environment and flow? Is any of it open sourced?

I'm keen to try my hand at a mobile SDL2 game but my experience with the Android toolchain hints that it's a pretty deep rabbit-hole.

[moomat]

Just to pipe in re the OP: Our game, Junk E.T., is written in Java, and frankly we love it. We're using Libgdx as a framework, and there's hardly anything negative I'd say about Java or Libgdx for game development. Although I also sometimes program in C++ and I am somewhat in favor of C++'s capabilities, there are a lot of great things about Java that make it great especially for beginning game programmers.

Although people tend to think you don't really have to worry about memory management in Java, and although I suppose you could write code in that way, smart programmers are still conscious of what memory they're using and how, so that's a bit of misnomer about Java, IMO anyways.

I think a lot of people (myself included at times) think of C/C++ as "man's" languages because they are a bit more labor intensive in terms of how you deal with memory and all that, but there's something to be said about the beauty of a virtual machine doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you.

[Halogen]

While I've been programming in Java for just over four weeks (a.k.a. hardly even programming yet) I do plan to use it for my future game making. It is versatile, and it is used in android development, so that's a pretty nice plus. I'm using it because of the portability and the android use availability, as I'm an android person. Also, if I ever wanted to switch to a more game industry-oriented language (C++) they're both OOP languages, so the transition wouldn't be terribly difficult. I do think it's a used language, just perhaps not as often or as vocally as C++ in gaming arenas.