@deprecated_ii @monsterislandcolonizer @skylar @snappler I doubt there would be many (if any) mods if he'd chosen write it in C++ and forced everyone to use some janky library linking system or DIY scripting language like a lot of C++ games with mod support do.

Java may have it's problems (especially when it comes to handling memory) and I agree that programmers nowadays should be forced to learn how signal buses and memory allocation actually work but I would also say that there are plenty of other criteria for a software engineer to worry about other than performance.

Reliability, portability, workplace ergonomics and code readability are all perfectly valid things to optimize a codebase around, and I would say, as someone who started out learning C++ back when people were still bitching about COM+, that Java fairs much better at that stuff the majority of times.