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Java 22

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12 views2 pages

Java 22

Uploaded by

tricka325
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Java 21, released in September 2023, is a **Long-Term Support (LTS)** version, succeeding Java 17.

This release is one of the most significant in years, bringing several finalized and preview features that
dramatically improve concurrency, language expressiveness, and performance.

Here are the details of the most important features:

## 1. Concurrency and Threading Enhancements

Java 21 introduces significant features from **Project Loom** aimed at simplifying concurrent
programming and increasing application scalability.

### Virtual Threads (Final)


* **Feature (JEP 444):** Virtual Threads are lightweight, user-mode threads scheduled by the Java Virtual
Machine (JVM), not the operating system.
* **Impact:** They drastically reduce the overhead associated with traditional, heavy-weight "platform"
threads, making it feasible to create millions of threads. This simplifies the development of
high-throughput concurrent applications, especially for the popular "thread-per-request" style used in
server-side development.

### Structured Concurrency (Preview)


* **Feature (JEP 453):** Structured Concurrency is an API that treats multiple tasks running in different
threads as a single unit of work.
* **Impact:** This streamlines error handling and cancellation by ensuring that the lifespan of a concurrent
operation is confined to its syntactic block. It improves reliability and observability of concurrent code.

### Scoped Values (Preview)


* **Feature (JEP 446):** Scoped Values allow data to be safely and efficiently shared within a thread, and
with its child threads, particularly useful with Virtual Threads.
* **Impact:** They are a preferred, cleaner, and safer alternative to **‘ThreadLocal‘** variables, especially
in the context of numerous lightweight threads, as they promote immutability and avoid common memory
leak issues.

***

## 2. Language and Syntax Enhancements

These features make the Java language more concise, readable, and powerful, especially for
data-oriented programming.

### Record Patterns (Final)


* **Feature (JEP 440):** This enhancement allows for the **deconstruction** (extracting components) of
**Record** class instances directly within pattern matching constructs, such as ‘instanceof‘ and ‘switch‘.
* **Impact:** It reduces boilerplate code and allows for powerful, nested pattern matching to easily
navigate and process complex data structures in a single, expressive line.

### Pattern Matching for ‘switch‘ (Final)


* **Feature (JEP 441):** Extends the ‘switch‘ expression and statement to work with patterns, not just
exact values.
* **Impact:** This enables type-testing and deconstruction within ‘switch‘ blocks, allowing for more
concise, type-safe, and exhaustive handling of different types or states of data compared to traditional
‘if-else if‘ chains. It also explicitly supports handling ‘null‘ in the ‘switch‘.

### Sequenced Collections (Final)


* **Feature (JEP 431):** Introduces new interfaces—**‘SequencedCollection‘**, **‘SequencedSet‘**, and
**‘SequencedMap‘**—to formalize the concept of collections with a defined, predictable element
encounter order.
* **Impact:** It provides uniform methods for accessing, adding, or removing the **first** and **last**
elements, as well as a method to view the collection in **reverse** order, regardless of the concrete class
(e.g., ‘List‘, ‘LinkedHashSet‘, ‘LinkedHashMap‘).

### String Templates (Preview)


* **Feature (JEP 430):** Introduces an elegant way to mix literal text with embedded expressions,
simplifying string creation.
* **Impact:** It improves code readability by eliminating cumbersome string concatenation (‘+‘) or the
need for ‘String.format()‘. It also increases security and flexibility by allowing custom template
processors.

### Unnamed Patterns and Variables (Preview)


* **Feature (JEP 443):** Allows the underscore character (‘_‘) to denote an unnamed pattern (to match
but not extract a record component) or an unnamed variable (a local variable that is initialized but not
used).
* **Impact:** This improves code clarity by explicitly indicating to the reader and the compiler that a
variable or component is intentionally ignored, reducing unnecessary boilerplate or compiler warnings.

***

## 3. Platform and Performance

Under-the-hood improvements and new low-level APIs enhance the performance and safety of Java
applications.

### Generational Z Garbage Collector (ZGC) (Final)


* **Feature (JEP 439):** Extends ZGC to maintain separate generations for "young" and "old" objects.
* **Impact:** It allows the collector to collect young objects more frequently (as they tend to die young),
which significantly reduces the garbage collection overhead and improves performance, especially for
applications using ZGC.

### Foreign Function & Memory API (Third Preview)


* **Feature (JEP 442):** An API that enables Java programs to easily and safely interoperate with code
and data outside of the JVM, replacing the complex and error-prone **JNI (Java Native Interface)**.
* **Impact:** It provides a safe and efficient way for Java applications to call native libraries and access
native memory, which is crucial for high-performance computing or integrating with external C/C++ code.

### Key Encapsulation Mechanism API (KEM)


* **Feature (JEP 452):** Introduces an API for Key Encapsulation Mechanisms (KEMs), a technique for
securing symmetric keys using public-key cryptography.
* **Impact:** This provides a modern, standardized, and safer way to manage and exchange
cryptographic keys, addressing a critical need for modern security protocols.

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