Java release chains - Splitting features from security

I'm going to describe a trick to get pattern patching on Optional in Java 21, but one you'll probably never actually use. Using Optional As of Java 21, Pattern matching in Java allows us to check a value against a type like an instanceof with a new variable being declared of the correct type. Pattern matching can handle simple types and the...

How do you start a Java program? With a main method of course. But the ceremony around writing such a method is perhaps not the nicest for newcomers to Java. There has been a bit of dicussion recently about how the "on-ramp" for Java could be made easier. This is the original proposal. Here are follow ups - OpenJDK, Reddit, Hacker news....

Moving from Java 8 to Java 11 is trickier than most upgrades. Here are a few of my notes on the process. (And here are a couple of other blogs - Benjamin Winterberg and Leonardo Zanivan.) Modules Java 9 introduced one of the largest changes in the history of Java - modules. Much has been said on the topic, by me and others. A key point is...

TL:DR; Java is still available at zero-cost, you just need to stop using Oracle JDK and start using an OpenJDK build, such as this one or this one. The trap Java 11 has been released. It is a major release because it has long-term support (LTS). But Oracle have also set it up to be a trap (either deliberately or accidentally). For 23 years,...

The Java ecosystem has always been built on a high quality $free (zero-cost) JDK available from Oracle, and previously Sun. This is as true today as it always has been - but the new six-monthly release cycle does mean some big changes are happening. Six-monthly releases Java now has a release every six months, something which greatly impacts how...