Plurrrr

In training classes, one of the things I always say (besides “Ask questions!”) is “Always look at the first error message, not the last one.” It’s so tempting to look at the last line of the compiler’s output first: after all, it’s the one that’s right there in front of you when the compiler finishes running. You think, “Well, I need to fix all the errors at some point anyway; might as well start here.” It’s a trap! Suppress that temptation, and scroll up to the first error message first.

Everyone is talking about Polars. Polars is supposed to replace Pandas. Will it? Maybe 10 years from now. You can’t untangle Pandas from everywhere it exists overnight. Do you still want to replace Pandas with Polars and be one of the cool kids? Ok. Let’s take a look at a practical guide to replacing Pandas with Polars, comparing functionally used by most people.

The immense breadth of Java and its ecosystem, having grown and matured over nearly three decades, can also be challenging though for folks just starting their careers as a Java developer. Which Java version should you use? How to install it? Which build tool and IDE are the right ones? For all these, and many other questions, there are typically a number of options, which can easily overwhelm you if you are new to Java. As the platform has evolved, tools have come and gone, things which were hugely popular years ago have fallen into obsolescence since then. As related information can still be found on the internet, it can be hard to identify what’s still relevant and what not.

The idea for this blog post is to provide an opinionated guide for folks getting started with Java development in 2023, helping you with your very first steps with that amazing platform. Note I’m not saying that the things I’m going to recommend are the best ones for each and every situation. The focus is on providing a good getting-started experience. Some of the recommended tools or approaches may make less sense to use as you get more experienced and other choices might be better suited for you then, based on the specific situation and its requirements.

Also, very importantly, there is a notion of personal taste and preference to these things, those are my recommendations, and those of others might look different, which is perfectly fine.