Every programming language provides ways to express our ideas and then translates them into reality. This thread will explore ten #Java programming features used frequently by developers in their day-to-day programming jobs.
Collections are used to store, sort, search, and iterate objects. It provides a few basic interfaces, such as List, Set, Map, and their implementations. The traditional way of creating Collections may look verbose. Therefore, #Java 9 introduced a few very concise factory methods.
#Java 10 introduced type inference for local variables, which is super convenient for developers.
The traditional switch statement has been in Java from the beginning, which resembled C and C++. It was ok, but as the language evolved, it hasn't offered us any improvement. #Java 14 introduced a new way of looking at this switch statement, and it offers much more rich features.
Although records are relatively new features in Java, released in #Java 16, many developers find it super helpful to create immutable objects.
public record Point(int x, int y) {
}
We often get null from a method instead of a value with the specified type. An invoker cannot know this upfront unless it invokes it. It’s a violation of the contract. #Optional is the rescue.
Every developer is confused with date-time calculation to some degree. This was mainly due to not having a good Java API to deal with dates and times in #Java for a long time. #Java 8 brings an excellent API set in java.time that solves all the date time-related issues.
Every developer hates the NullPointerException. It becomes challenging when StackTrace doesn’t provide helpful information it. From #Java 14 and onward, we get more details in the StackTrace, which is super convenient.
#Java 8 brings CompletableFuture. We can easily accomplish three rest calls in three different cores using it. It gives us a way for multiple independent units of a program to be executed independently.
Lambda Expression is probably the most powerful feature in the #Java language. It reshaped the way we write code.
And the Stream API.
"Lambda Expressions are the gateway drug to #Java 8, but Streams are the real addiction.
- Venkat Subramaniam.
#Java has been and continues to be the most popular language over the last two decades. After many discussions with Java developers, I have concluded the following seven key reasons why Java developers still love Java after all these years.
1. Community:
In every major city, you will find a Java user group that helps developers achieve the required skills, voluntarily and for free, who help distribute resources and solutions, increase networking, and expand #Java knowledge globally. dev.java/community/jugs/.
2. Language and Platform
An expressive and easy-to-read language helps new developers quickly get used to the existing codebase. #Java is an open-source programming platform with great documentation support. It's a platform that houses and enables a wide range of other languages.