The question is a bit vague, as Java is such a huge field today.
Are you talking about desktop development? Mobile (Android) development? Server?
At a minimum for the server side introduced by Java EE, the tendency is to use fewer libraries. Many of the features required by most applications are already part of the Java EE 6 platform. Additional libraries are still useful, for example, for additional user interface components (PrimeFaces, RichFaces, etc.).
Seam 3 seems to provide some interesting technologies and may be a useful additional library when using Java EE.
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