Java has followed a release cycle of 6 months for quite a few years now. We saw significant changes in the last update of Java 18 in March. Now Java development kit 19 is coming out in September 2022. So, we are going to see massive modifications that are going to make the lives of developers very easy.

If you are a business owner or are thinking about using Java for your project, you must be aware of these changes. Thus, in this article, we will be discussing the new features in Java 19.

New Java 19 Features

Record Patterns

Nesting record patterns allow powerful and composable data navigation and processing. The goals include expanding pattern matching to describe more advanced and composable data searches. Developers can do that while keeping the syntax and semantics of type patterns unchanged.

That will improve pattern matching, which was released in JDK 16 in March 2021. Yet, there is a possibility that features such as array patterns will be included when the record patterns are improved in the future. So, you must hire Java developers who are aware of this.

Structured Concurrency

Structured concurrency aims to ease multithreaded programming by providing a structured concurrency API. To simplify error management, this feature treats several tasks operating in distinct threads as a similar unit of work. The reliability has also been enhanced in this version. Every Java web application development company will definitely be making full use of this feature.

Foreign Function and Memory API

This offers an API allowing programs to interact with code and data not included in the Java runtime. The API enables Java applications to contact libraries and handle native data. It would do this without the risk of the Java Native Interface. It effectively executes foreign functions and safely accesses foreign memory. So this should be a part of the Java software development services that you get.

The foreign function and memory API brings together the foreign memory access API and the foreign linker API. These are the two previously incubated APIs. JDK 17 incubated the foreign function and memory API. It was then included in JDK 18. The objectives include usability, performance, flexibility, and safety.

Virtual Threads

Virtual threads are lightweight threads that cut the work required to write, operate, and track applications. The goals include

• Allowing server applications written in the simple thread-per-request style to scale with near-optimal hardware utilization
• Allowing existing code that uses java.lang Thread API to adopt virtual threads with minimal change
• Enabling virtual thread troubleshooting, debugging, and profiling with existing JDK tools

Pattern Matching

Pattern matching for switch expressions and statements extends pattern matching to switch. That allows an expression to be verified against many patterns. Each has a distinct action that allows complicated data-oriented searches to be written clearly and safely. That makes this one of the best features in Java 19.

This feature will include changes such as replacing guarded patterns in switch blocks with when clauses. Moreover, when the value of the selector expression is null, the runtime semantics of a pattern switch is more closely matched with traditional switch semantics. Its aim is to allow patterns to appear in case labels. That increases the expressiveness and application of switch expressions and statements.

Other objectives include

• Allowing developers to relax the switch’s traditional null-hostility
• Enhancing the safety of switch statements
• Guaranteeing that current switch expressions and statements continue to compile and run with similar semantics

Linux/RISC-V Port

Java will acquire support for a hardware instruction set with the Linux/RISC-V port. RISC-V is a group of similar ISAs. The RISC-V RV64GV configuration is a general-purpose 64-bit ISA with Vector instructions, and the Linux/RISC-V port would only support it. In the future, Java developers may examine alternative RISC-V setups. This feature will be a huge plus for Java application development services.

Vector API

This feature will define vector computations that would consistently compile at runtime to optimum vector instructions on supported CPU architectures. Therefore, it will deliver performance higher than similar scalar computations. The API  will allow developers to construct complicated vector algorithms in Java, leveraging the HotSpot auto-vectorizer. However, that will be with a user model that makes vectorizations more predictable and resilient.

The enhancements to this API include improvements to load and keep vectors to and from MemorySegments. JDK 19 will also have two cross-lane vector operations, compress and expand, as well as a vector mask compress operation.

The compress vector operation transfers lanes from a source vector to a destination vector in lane order. The expand vector operation does the opposite. The compress operation can be used to filter query results.

Another improvement to the vector API is the inclusion of bitwise integral lanewise operations. That includes counting the amount of one bit, reversing the order of bits, and compressing and expanding bits. The API’s goals

• Being clear and concise
• Platform independence
• Having reliable runtime and compilation performance

In Conclusion

Narola Infotech is a leading Java development company that understands the importance of keeping up with the latest trends and developments. Our developers make sure that they make full use of the new features to increase productivity and improve quality. That is the reason why our clients are happy with us. If you have a Java project in mind, feel free to contact our experts at any time.

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