Java is pretty darned graspable, at least I think it's way closer to Go than C++. What do you think are the biggest things that make it hard? The language? Warts like int/Integer? Library size or organization? (This is a real question, I can't look at this stuff with "fresh eyes.")

For me? The environment/runtime.

I can write a simple program in C/C++/go/rust/etc, and compile and run it.

In Java, a bloated IDE isn't just a recommendation, it's practically a requirement.

Evey time I try to learn Java, I smack my head against the toolchain. I ended up just giving up when I tried to wrap my head around classpath, and haven't tried since. I could probably figure it out pretty easily now, but I just don't see any allure in learning Java anyway.

One of these days, I might start using Clojure, but the JVM just feels so messy that I don't want to start.

There is no requirement to use an ide in Java. I've never written Java in anything other than emacs and never had a problem.

I'm likely overstating the problem, but that is my experience as I remember it.

My main point is that Java just isn't appealing enough in the first place for me to want to deal with the relatively insignificant issues I ran into.