The .NET CLR (VM) has had proper generics and value types since 2002. Java did not implement generics until 2004 and to this day does not have user-defined value types. There was an opportunity to do it right in 2004 before this became "baked in".
There is really no good excuse. Many developers have abandoned java due to the glacial progress with both the language and the VM. It is legacy now.
The main benefit (IMO) of Vahala would be for other JVM languages (such as Kotlin) to make the implementation of value types more efficient.
(I use both CLR and JVM in my work, but is clear to me that the CLR is superior on many fronts).
There is really no good excuse. Many developers have abandoned java due to the glacial progress with both the language and the VM. It is legacy now.
The main benefit (IMO) of Vahala would be for other JVM languages (such as Kotlin) to make the implementation of value types more efficient.
(I use both CLR and JVM in my work, but is clear to me that the CLR is superior on many fronts).