Java 8 vs Other Versions

Java is a high-level, class-based, object-oriented programming language that is designed to have as few implementation dependencies as possible. It is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere (WORA), meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile

There were five primary goals in the creation of the Java language:

It must be simple, object-oriented, and familiar.
It must be robust and secure.
It must be architecture-neutral and portable.
It must execute with high performance.
It must be interpreted, threaded, and dynamic.

As of September 2021, Java 8, 11 and 17 are supported as Long-Term Support (LTS) versions. Major release versions of Java, along with their release dates

Java 8 LTS (March 18, 2014)

JSR 335 : Lambda expression support in APIs e.g. (parameters) -> expression
Stream API e.g.
List<String> filteredList = items.stream() .filter(e -> (!e.startsWith(prefix))) .collect(Collectors.toList());
Functional interface and default methods @FunctionalInterface annotation e.g.
@FunctionalInterface
public interface MyFirstFunctionalInterface { public void firstWork(); }
Optionals
Nashorn – JavaScript runtime which allows developers to embed JavaScript code within applications
Annotation on Java Types
Unsigned Integer Arithmetic
Repeating annotations
JSR-310 : New Date and Time API e.g.
Date class has even become obsolete. The new classes intended to replace Date class are LocalDate, LocalTime and LocalDateTime.
JEP 178 :Statically-linked JNI libraries
JavaFX applications from jar files
Remove the permanent generation from GC

Java 9 (September 21, 2017)

Java 9 was made available on September, 2017. The biggest change is the modularization i.e. Java modules.

Some important features/changes in Java 9 are:

Java platform module system
Interface Private Methods
HTTP 2 Client
JShell – REPL Tool
Platform and JVM Logging
Process API Updates
Collection API Updates
Improvements in Stream API
Multi-Release JAR Files
@Deprecated Tag Changes
Stack Walking
Java Docs Updates
Miscellaneous Other Features

Java 10 (March 20, 2018)

After Java 9 release, Java 10 came very quickly. Unlike its previous release, Java 10 does not have that many exciting features, still, it has a few important updates which will change the way you code, and other future Java versions.

JEP 286: Local Variable Type Inference
JEP 322: Time-Based Release Versioning
JEP 304: Garbage-Collector Interface
JEP 307: Parallel Full GC for G1
JEP 316: Heap Allocation on Alternative Memory Devices
JEP 296: Consolidate the JDK Forest into a Single Repository
JEP 310: Application Class-Data Sharing
JEP 314: Additional Unicode Language-Tag Extensions
JEP 319: Root Certificates
JEP 317: Experimental Java-Based JIT Compiler
JEP 312: Thread-Local Handshakes
JEP 313: Remove the Native-Header Generation Tool

Java 11 LTS (September 25, 2018)

Java 11 (released on September 2018) includes many important and useful updates. Let’s see the new features and improvements, it brings for developers and architects.

HTTP Client API
Launch Single-File Programs Without Compilation
String API Changes
Collection.toArray(IntFunction)
Files.readString() and Files.writeString()
Optional.isEmpty()

Java 12 (March 19, 2019)

Java 12 was released on March 19, 2019. Let’s see the new features and improvements, it brings for developers and architects.

Collectors.teeing() in Stream API
String API Changes
Files.mismatch(Path, Path)
Compact Number Formatting
Support for Unicode 11
Switch Expressions (Preview)

Java 13 (September 17, 2019)

ava 13 (released on September 17, 2019) had fewer developer-specific features. Let’s see the new features and improvements, it brought for developers and architects.

JEP 355 – Text Blocks (Preview)
JEP 354 – Switch Expressions Enhancements (Preview)
JEP 353 – Reimplement the Legacy Socket API
JEP 350 – Dynamic CDS Archive
JEP 351 – ZGC: Uncommit Unused Memory
FileSystems.newFileSystem() Method
DOM and SAX Factories with Namespace Support

Java 14 (March 17, 2020)

Java 14 (released on March 17, 2020) is the latest version available for JDK. Let’s see the new features and improvements, it brings for developers and architects.

JEP 305 – Pattern Matching for instanceof (Preview)
JEP 368 – Text Blocks (Second Preview)
JEP 358 – Helpful NullPointerExceptions
JEP 359 – Records (Preview)
JEP 361 – Switch Expressions (Standard)
JEP 343 – Packaging Tool (Incubator)
JEP 345 – NUMA-Aware Memory Allocation for G1
JEP 349 – JFR Event Streaming
JEP 352 – Non-Volatile Mapped Byte Buffers
JEP 363 – Remove the Concurrent Mark Sweep (CMS) Garbage Collector
JEP 367 – Remove the Pack200 Tools and API
JEP 370 – Foreign-Memory Access API (Incubator)

Java 15 (September 15, 2020)

Java 15 was released on 15th Sep’2020. It continues to support various preview features in previous JDK releases; and has also introduced some new features.

JEP 360 – Sealed Classes and Interfaces (Preview)
JEP 339 – EdDSA Algorithm
JEP 371 – Hidden Classes
JEP 375 – Pattern Matching for instanceof (Second Preview)
JEP 372 – Removed Nashorn JavaScript Engine
JEP 373 – Reimplement the Legacy DatagramSocket API
JEP 384 – Records (Second Preview)
JEP 378 – Text Blocks become a standard feature.

Java 16 (March 16, 2021)

Java 16 was released on 16 March 20121. It was largely a maintenance release, except it made the Java Records and Pattern matching the standard features of the Java language.

JEP 338: Vector API (Incubator)
JEP 347: Enable C++14 Language Features
JEP 357: Migrate from Mercurial to Git
JEP 369: Migrate to GitHub
JEP 376: ZGC: Concurrent Thread-Stack Processing
JEP 380: Unix-Domain Socket Channels
JEP 386: Alpine Linux Port
JEP 387: Elastic Metaspace
JEP 388: Windows/AArch64 Port
JEP 389: Foreign Linker API (Incubator)
JEP 390: Warnings for Value-Based Classes
JEP 392: Packaging Tool
JEP 393: Foreign-Memory Access API (Third Incubator)
JEP 394: Pattern Matching for instanceof
JEP 395: Records
JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default
JEP 397: Sealed Classes (Second Preview)

Java 17 TLS (September 14, 2021)

Java 17 was released on September 14, 2021. Java 17 is an LTS (Long Term Support) release, like Java 11 and Java 8. Spring 6 and Spring boot 3 will have first-class support for Java 17. So it is a good idea to plan for upgrading to Java 17.

The below-listed 14 JEPs are part of Java 17.

JEP-306 – Restore Always-Strict Floating-Point Semantics
JEP-356 – Enhanced Pseudo-Random Number Generators
JEP-382 – New macOS Rendering Pipeline
JEP-391- macOS/AArch64 Port
JEP-398 – Deprecate the Applet API for Removal
JEP-403 – Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals
JEP-406 – Pattern Matching for switch (Preview)
JEP-407 – Remove RMI Activation
JEP-409 – Sealed Classes
JEP-410 – Remove the Experimental AOT and JIT Compiler
JEP-411 – Deprecate the Security Manager for Removal
JEP-412 – Foreign Function & Memory API (Incubator)
JEP-414 – Vector API (Second Incubator)
JEP-415 – Context-Specific Deserialization Filters

Java 18 (March 22, 2022)

Java 18 GA was released on 22 March 2022. It has nine new developer features, including a simple web server and another preview of pattern matching for switch.

The below-listed 14 JEPs are part of Java 18.

JEP-400: UTF-8 by Default
JEP-408: Simple Web Server
JEP-413: Code Snippets in Java API Documentation
JEP-416: Reimplement Core Reflection with Method Handles
JEP-417: Vector API (Third Incubator)
JEP-418: Internet-Address Resolution SPI
JEP-419: Foreign Function & Memory API (Second Incubator)
JEP-420: Pattern Matching for switch (Second Preview)
JEP-421: Deprecate Finalization for Removal

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