No, Java has lots of merits. For example, once you know layout managers, you can have a resizable GUI app in no time. It's the exact opposite of arranging things pixel by pixel. You just define "I want a grid of these buttons south and a big text field in the center" and Java will do the rest. I whip up apps like this for the silliest things, like noting which dungeon has what rotating boss this week in a game, so it's more convinient than noting it in a text file.