Java is now 30 years old, and has gained many features since its inception. Most of them were not invented by the JDK team, but instead adapted from other programming languages or research papers.

The half-year release cadence has spawned quite a bit of development in the Java ecosystem. However, the next great feature is probably already out there. Do you know where the features of the past hail from? And can we predict the future? In this talk, Falk (Java enthusiast) and Mike (expert on programming languages) take a look at history and into their crystal ball:

- What do generics, lambdas, streams, and virtual threads have common?
- Why can't functional programmers shut up about "tail calls"?
- Why are lambdas called lambdas, and what's still needed for them to achieve true greatness?
- Will Java be functional programming language?

Come on over to better understand why Java is the way it is and what's still in store.