This is the best news for any Java developer: Java is actively supported and continues to be enhanced to stay abreast with the latest demands of the industry. It means that whatever you hear about other languages and newest technologies, you will get the best features and functionality added to Java soon. And with the new release schedule—every half year—you can be assured that the new additions will be released as soon as they prove to be useful and practical.
While thinking about designing a new application or new functionality to be added to the existing one, it is important to know how Java may be enhanced in the near future. Such knowledge can help you to design the new code in such a manner that it will be easier to accommodate new Java functions and make your application simpler and more powerful. To follow all the JDK Enhancement Proposals (JEP) could be impractical for a mainstream programmer because one has to follow too many different threads of discussion and development. By contrast, staying on top of one of the Java enhancement projects in the area of your interests is much easier. You could even try to contribute to one such project as an expert in a particular area or just as an interested party.
In this chapter, we are going to review the five most important, in our opinion, Java enhancement projects:
- Project Panama: Focused on the interoperability with non-Java libraries
- Project Valhalla: Conceived around the introduction of a new value type and related generics enhancements
- Project Amber: Includes various efforts of Java language extension with a data class, pattern match, raw string literals, concise method bodies, and lambda enhancements, to name the most significant sub-projects
- Project Loom: Addresses the creation of lightweight threads called fibers and makes asynchronous coding easier