Honestly I just don't like the Java runtime. I'm probably biased, but years of hating Java are the only reason I still haven't learned Clojure. The biggest issue I remember having was with the build system. Sure there are plenty of capable make-like programs, but I want to understand how to run the compiler and linker myself, and I seem to remember butting my head against classpath last time I tried to get into Java, and simply giving up. Am I just crazy?