Re: Go Java!
You can also tell a Java dev from his reinforced bookshelves. Filled with thick tomes on the endless libraries and addons needed suggested to get things done. A good subset of those libraries, Spring coming to mind, deals with shoving configuration pell-mell into XML so it that escapes the scrutiny of the so-desirable typing system and allow a modicum of, hated and unnecessary, dynamic behavior.
Much cleaner to put behavior, not data, in XML than code, innit? Especially considering how human-friendly searching through complex nested XML is ;-).
Odd that few other languages have drunk from the XML-as-code coolaid cup so deeply. They're missing so much.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
