Why preferring CAP JS over CAP Java

[DragonKimmo]

I know this is an opinioned list but I'd like to open discussion why CAP JS is preferred over CAP Java. I don't see such recommendation from SAP.

[tobiashofmann]

You get the recommendation indirectly from SAP: CAP has its own conference, and looking at the content presented, it is about CAP JS. Over the last years, very few sessions were about the Java flavor were part of the agenda.

The are several tutorials from SAP for CAP available, and they are about CAP JS. Looking at CAP related sessions at TechEd, SUGs or events like Devtoberfest: it is CAP JS. When SAP people show how cool and easy CAP is: they no not start with a CAP Java project.

When people talk about CAP, rarely it is about CAP Java. When SAP decides to talk mostly about CAP JS, that's their decission. But when the developer community, and those are the people that should drive CAP adoption at customers and partners through real world projects, talk mostly about CAP JS, this is a very good hint that CAP is mostly used with Javascript. And while it seems that software from SAP that uses CAP is developed in Java, and not very often using CAP JS, there is no information from SAP about this.

There are more plugins for NodeJS than for Java: https://cap.cloud.sap/docs/plugins/
More people fork/star/watch the JS sample repo than the Java one:
https://github.com/SAP-samples/cloud-cap-samples
https://github.com/SAP-samples/cloud-cap-samples-java

Putting CAP Java into USE is risky: what if there are no developers in the ecosystem available? What if there are not enough samples? Can solutions be maintained easily for the next years? As CAP NodeJS gets more visibility from everyone, the answer is a Yes for CAP JS, but for CAP Java?

Another hint that CAP Java might not be the best fit for USE: so far, no one from SAP or the CAP team questioned the positioning or showed some proof that CAP Java gets as much love as CAP Node.JS does (internally and externally).

Currently I am rather thinking about putting CAP JS to HOLD. For companies to adopt it, trainings are needed. It is hard to find official trainings or companies that can provide a good CAP training. Finding developers / architects en mass with good enough CAP skills is a challenge, too.

[DragonKimmo]

Thank you @tobiashofmann for taking the time to respond and sharing some of the reasons behind the decision.

I too see CAP JS as the more preferred option. But I was thinking is that only because I've been working more with JS the past years. I Also felt that CAP JS seem to have been more presented in the events you mention.