97 Things Every Java Programmer Should Know

Chapter 69. The Rebirth of Java

Sander Mak

Java has been declared dead perhaps more than any other programming language, it seems. Perhaps unsurprisingly, reports of its death are greatly exaggerated. Java has an enormous footprint in backend development, and most enterprises develop systems in Java. However, there’s a kernel of truth in every rumor—Java was a slow-moving language in the age of dynamic languages like Ruby and JavaScript. Traditionally, major Java releases spanned three to four years of development. It’s hard to keep up with other platforms at this pace.

In 2017, all this changed. Oracle—Java’s steward—announced the Java platform would be released twice a year. Java 9, released toward the end of 2017, was the last big and long-awaited release. After Java 9, every year in March and September a new major Java release is delivered. Like clockwork.

Switching to this time-based release schedule has many consequences. Releases can no longer wait on features that are not yet complete. Also, because there’s less time between releases and the team developing Java remains the same size, fewer features make it into a release. But that’s OK—we get another release in only six months. A steady stream of new features and improvements is what we can count on.

Interestingly, new language features are now also delivered incrementally. The Java language is now evolving in a more ...