Oracle has announced the availability of Java 19, the latest version of the world’s number one programming language and development platform with enhancements to the platform. This update can help developers improve productivity and drive business-wide innovation especially in the cloud.

What’s new with Java?

Java 19 (Oracle JDK 19) is the latest version of the world’s number one programming language and development platform. The innovations in this release simplifies the work of developers, with enhanced tooling to take advantage of today’s hardware and software needs, both in the cloud and on-premises.

Java 19 announcement image

VDC Research estimates that about 80 billion active Java virtual machines (JVMs) can be active in 2024, with 73% being cloud-based. According to Arnal Dayaratna, a research vice president for software development at IDC, “Java developers are increasingly seeking tools to help them efficiently build highly functional applications for deployment in the cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.”

The latest Java development kit (JDK) provides updates and improvements through delivery of seven JDK enhancement proposals (JEPs). With these JEPs, JDK 19 includes language Improvements, library enhancements, previews for Project Loom, and more.

The following JEPs are delivered with JDK 19:

  • JEP 405: Record patterns (Preview)

  • JEP 427: Pattern matching (Third review)

The following library enhancements enable Java to interoperate with non-Java code:

  • JEP 424: Foreign function and memory API (Preview)

  • JEP 426: Vector API (Fourth incubator)

The implementation of JEP 422 includes the use of Linux and RISC-V ports.

Java 19 includes the following previews for components used in Project Loom:

  • JEP 425: Virtual thread (Preview)

  • JEP 428: Structured concurrency (Incubator)

Both can drastically reduce the effort required to write and maintain high-throughput, concurrent Java applications.

Innovations that enhance Java in the cloud

Oracle Java is well-positioned for development and deployment in the cloud. Oracle Java includes entitlements like GraalVM Enterprise, Java Management Service (JMS), and support backed by the Java experts. GraalVM is a high-performance JDK that significantly reduces application startup time with small memory footprint, which is ideal for the deployment microservices. JMS is an Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) service to helps organizations simplify managing Java runtimes and applications on-premises or on any cloud.

Running Java production instances in the Oracle cloud is free. You don’t need to buy an Oracle Java license. Learn more about building modern applications with Java with the following resources:

  • Read the VDC Research and learn why developers choose Java for application modernization.

  • Java SE and entitlement to GraalVM Enterprise are offered on OCI at no extra cost.

  • Try Oracle Java on the Oracle Cloud Free Tier.