Java 16 was released on March 16, 2020. Let’s see its new features.

Syntax features

JEP 394: Pattern Matching for instanceof

Pattern Matching for instanceof was introduced in Java 14 and in Java 15. In Java 16, it became a production feature. It is possible to write statements like:

if (obj instanceof String s && s.length() > 5) {
  flag = s.contains("jdk");
}

JEP 395: Records

Records were introduced in Java 14 and again in Java 15. In Java 16, it became a production feature. According to JEP documentation, the main purpose of records is not to reduce boiler plate code. The main goal is to provide truly immutable objects. Example of usage:

public record User(int id, String name) { };

Also local record became a production feature.

List<Merchant> findTopMerchants(List<Merchant> merchants, int month) {
// Local record
record MerchantSales(Merchant merchant, double sales) {}
  return merchants.stream()
    .map(merchant -> new MerchantSales(merchant, computeSales(merchant, month)))
    .sorted((m1, m2) -> Double.compare(m2.sales(), m1.sales()))
    .map(MerchantSales::merchant)
    .collect(toList());
}

JEP 376: ZGC: Concurrent Thread-Stack Processing

This feature moves ZGC thread-stack processing from safepoints to a concurrent phase, allows sub-millisecond pauses inside GC safepoints, even on large heaps. Removing the final source of latency in the ZGC garbage collector will greatly improve performance and efficiency of applications in this and subsequent releases.

JEP 387: Elastic Metaspace

This feature returns unused HotSpot VM class-metadata (i.e. metaspace) memory to the operating system more promptly, reducing metaspace footprint.

JEP 392: Packaging Tool

The jpackage tool was introduced as an incubating tool in JDK 14 by JEP 343. It remained an incubating tool in JDK 15. The main goal of jpackage is to create a packaging tool, based on the legacy JavaFX javapackager tool, that:

Supports native packaging formats to give end users a natural installation experience. These formats include msi, exe, dmg.

JEP 396: Strongly Encapsulate JDK Internals by Default

Strongly encapsulate all internal elements of the JDK by default, except for critical internal APIs such as sun.misc.Unsafe. Allow end users to choose the relaxed strong encapsulation that has been the default since JDK 9. Code successfully compiled with earlier releases that accesses internal APIs of the JDK may no longer work by default.

JEP 338: Vector API (Incubator)

This offers an initial iteration of an incubator module, to express vector computations that reliably compile at runtime to optimal vector hardware instructions and thus achieve superior performance to equivalent scalar computations.

JEP 389: Foreign Linker API (Incubator)

This incubator API offers statically-typed, pure-Java access to native code.

JEP 393: Foreign-Memory Access API (Third Incubator)

First introduced as an incubator API in Java 14 and again in Java 15, this API allows Java programs to safely and efficiently operate on various kinds of foreign memory (e.g., native memory, persistent memory, managed heap memory, etc.). It also provides the foundation for the Foreign Linker API.

Summary

Java 16 release mostly accepted production features. Extended previews I expect to see merged in Java 17 that will be Long Term Support. I am counting down till Java 17 release date

Marek Hudyma's Engineering Blog

Java 16 new features