Henri Tremblay at JavaOne 2026 | Duke’s Corner Java Podcast | May 18, 2026

Here’s the second interview I did at JavaOne in March with Henri Tremblay. Henri is a Java Champion, Montreal JUG leader, and EasyMock lead developer from Canada.

Henri’s session at JavaOne covered the Java Memory Model, which is a topic he believes every Java developer should understand well. He’s been to six JavaOne’s and had warm words for the conference, which represents a rare opportunity to meet the people whose code runs on systems and devices all over the world.

He has clear advice for developers: read books, understand how and why your code works, and get out there and join the community.

We also talked about why Java still powers so much of the world’s critical infrastructure, from banks to the Mars rover. Henri pointed out that companies often start in C++ and then move to Java because Java runs nearly as fast once it’s going and is far easier to change later.

On AI, Henri had a balanced view. He uses it for tedious work, like sifting through a gigabyte of logs to find a single error. But he was also clear about the risks. “We should not get lazy at reviewing code because AI will generate tons and tons of code. It’s not bad at reviewing it, but still it makes mistakes.” He warned that AI reflects the average of what’s on GitHub, and most code on GitHub isn’t great. Your role, he said, is to find a better answer.

For students and junior developers, he says they should also leverage AI for learning, but he advises that they internalize the fundamentals of software engineering deeply. “Read books, please, please!” He pointed to Core Java, the book he originally learned from and is now helping revise. Blogs and YouTube videos only tough on surface level issues. Books take you deep and that’s the knowledge you need to grow your career.

Henri Tremblay on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henritremblay/
Jim Grisanzio on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jimgris/