Why Haven’t They Fixed This?

Java’s turning 30, but some of its quirks feel like they’ve been around forever: type inference that trips over the obvious, iterators that lag on concurrent changes, oddball set-equality results, no built-in immutability, and sets that break if you tweak an element. You’ve probably wondered why these “easy” fixes never landed.

In this talk, Maurice Naftalin and Stuart Marks dig into whether these are truly simple to solve, weigh different approaches (including Java’s own), and unpack the trade-offs in language and API design. You’ll leave with a sharper eye for pitfalls, a toolkit for using Java’s current workarounds, and maybe even ideas for your own better solutions.

Watch on YouTube