New language features since Java 8 to 16

시간되면 읽어봐야 할 것.

Enhancements to the Java language you should know

Last updated on 2021/03/30 to include changes up to JDK 16.

This article is also available in Chinese by Alex Tan.

When Java 8 introduced Streams and Lambdas it was a big change, enabling functional programming style to be expressed with much less boilerplate. While recent versions did not add such impactful features, lots of smaller improvements were made to the language.

Language enhancements after Java 8

Java 16

• Record Classes
  • Tip: Use Local Records to model intermediate transformations
  • Tip: Check your libraries
• Pattern Matching for instanceof
  • Tip: Stay tuned for updates

Java 15

• Text Blocks
  • Tip: Preserve trailing spaces
  • Tip: Produce the correct newline characters for Windows
  • Tip: Pay attention to consistent indentation
• Helpful NullPointerExceptions
  • Tip: Check your tooling

Java 14

• Switch Expressions
  • Tip: Use arrow syntax

Java 11

• Local-Variable Type Inference
  • Tip: Keep readability in mind
  • Tip: Pay attention to preserve important type information
  • Tip: Make sure to read the official style guides

Java 9

• Allow private methods in interfaces
• Diamond operator for anonymous inner classes
• Allow effectively-final variables to be used as resources in try-with-resources statements
  • Tip: Watch out for released resources
• Underscore is no longer a valid identifier name
• Improved Warnings

What’s next: Preview features in Java 16

• Sealed Classes