Yesterday I opened up one of the projects I'm developing for Steem and it no longer works. I use the Java programming language. It appears as though the unofficial Java support (SteemJ wrapper) is broken, and I don't expect it to get fixed soon, if ever. It's problems like this that really hold back developers on the Steem blockchain. SteemJ was a way to make JavaScript calls with Java (yes, they are completely different).
Steem only has two official support languages: JavaScript and Python. It looks like they might be doing Ruby now as well, but I have no idea how Ruby works. https://developers.steem.io/
It appears as though the majority of effort goes into JavaScript when it comes to interacting with the Steem blockchain. The problem here is that revolving around JavaScript implies that the apps you're going to be making for the Steem blockchain are web based. Personally, I want to develop Android apps, making Java the obvious choice.
Even when you look at the official JavaScript support, it is extremely lacking. It's not intuitive. The tutorials are on Github and they were created by the person that coded it. It's difficult, if not impossible, to find tutorials that show you how to interact with the Steem blockchain from a newbie's perspective. If the documentation does not improve, it will be a huge barrier to entry for new developers.
I like Java. A lot of people hate Java. I think this is because I've never had a corporate job before. When you're working on a massive project with a team I could see how Java would not be ideal. However, for personal projects, Java is a great language. It's simple enough to be easier than C and C++, but it also gives you enough control to make it like ten times faster than Python.
Java is the official language of Android. Java is the main language taught in college. Three billion devices run Java. The fact that Steem doesn't have official Java support is downright embarrassing and bad for everyone. The Steem Team is working their asses off to get SMTs out ASAP. I just hope when that's done that they stop looking to the future and start tying up all these loose ends.
