Java 11

Building JDK 11 Together–Oracle has released an interesting blog entry on the developer stats for Java 11. Interestingly 20% of fixes in Java 11 were committed by developers outside of Oracle, and 51 of them were by individuals rather than companies.

Manual on Java 11: One small step for the new Java release train, one giant leap for Java 8 users–JaxEnter talks to some Java experts on their thoughts about Java 11 compared to Java 8.

Java 12

JDK 12 roadmap: The new features coming to Java 12–You might be forgiven for thinking that Java 11 only came out like a week ago or so, but Infoworld has a list of features likely to appear in Java 12. The ones I'm particularly interested in is the switch expressions and raw string literals.

Project Valhalla

Value types, encapsulation, and uninitialized values–Brian Goetz posted to the OpenJDK mailing list to discuss a design issue they have with value types and default values. If you want to see how the sausagelanguage features are designed, check out the discussion.

Java spec changes for value types in L-World2–I'm sure you love nothing more than reading dry changes to dry language specification documents. If so, Oracle has got you covered. Enjoy reading all the technical details required to the JVM to make value types work.

Q-Types in L-World 10–Just when you're waiting for an article about Project Valhalla and three turn up at once. John Rose discusses Q-Values and how they differ from the L-Values we all know and love. What do you mean you don't know what L-Values are?

Entering the next phase of Project Valhalla–But wait, there's more. Brian Goetz has posted a status update on Project Valhalla.

Testing

Introducing Exemplar for Automated Samples Testing–The people behind Gradle have announced Exemplar for automated testing. Gradle uses this library to verify examples in docs and guides, and remove boilerplate from integration tests.

Requests for comments on Mockito 3 features–The guys over at Mockito have a call for comments on what you'd like to see in Mockito 3. If you have an opinion, head over there and let them know.

Tutorials

Persisting fast in database with JPA–Jerónimo López has published an article about the steps he took to improve the performance of bulk inserted data into MySQL and PostgreSQL with JPA. Given that he ended up with a 3000% improvement, you might want to check it out in case you're missing out on that sweet sweet inserts-per-second record.

Cloneable, a Java design gotcha–Nicolas Fränkel has a discussion about the weird design of Cloneable.

Java Lambda: Method Reference–DZone has a tutorial on using method references with lambdas. Well worth a read, as it can improve the readability of your code.

Using jlink to Build Java Runtimes for non-Modular Applications–jlink is the tool that allows you to create a custom JDK image that only includes the modules you need, reducing deployment size. A lot of people think you can only use it with a fully-modularised application, but Simon Ritter, from Azul, demonstrates how you can use it with any application.

Other news

Oracle Introduces Helidon – A Lightweight Java Microservices Framework–Oracle have announced Helidon, a new microservice framework.