Abstract:
Ask AI to build a CLI and it writes Python. Is that a statement about AI or about Java? What would it take for Java to be a real answer?
I ran into this while building small CLI tools for coding agents: single commands that replace a flurry of `ls`, `find`, and `grep` to save turns and tokens and even preempt generated one-off scripts. They came back in Python. Every time. And they were pretty fast.
Then I wondered how far Java could go. So I measured. I built a set of small tools in Java, Go, Python, and Node, then compared startup time, code size, and how much steering it takes to get an agent to write Java. We'll look at where Java scripting started, what works today on JDK 25 and what it costs you, and what's still missing, including a few features I'd love to see land in the JDK.
Expect live demos, real measurements, and an honest scorecard, including the places where Java loses.
Speaker:
Steve Riesenberg is a Software Engineer on the Java Platform Team at Netflix, where he works on Spring Boot Netflix. Before that, he worked on the Spring Security team, focusing on OAuth support and contributing to Spring Authorization Server. His interests are security, distributed systems, messaging, and JVM languages. He spent years building security solutions and APIs for online banking platforms, and he enjoys thinking through the user experience from the UI to the mainframe (and back again). He is a tinkerer at heart, whether it's home automation, a Subaru WRX, or command-line tools for AI agents.
Agenda:
5:30-6:15 pm Meet, greet & eat!
6:15-6:20 pm Java News
6:20pm Main presentation
After presentation - social hour:
Austins Bar & Grill | South Olathe
2103 E 151st St #2969, Olathe, KS 66062
