The best of 2020: The 10 most popular Java Magazine articles
February 22, 2021 | 2 minute readRead them, reread them, share them.
Did you read the one about records? The article about code review antipatterns? Elasticsearch? How about the listing of the 25 greatest Java applications ever written—from Minecraft to the U.S. National Security Agency’s Ghidra? Lambda expressions, anyone?
These were the 10 stories that were most widely read. We hope you will enjoy spending a few minutes revisiting the best of 2020.
The 25 greatest Java apps ever written
From space exploration to genomics, from reverse compilers to robotic controllers, Java is at the heart of today’s world. Here are a few of the countless Java apps that stand out from the crowd.
by Alexa Weber Morales
Records come to Java
A first look at how Java 14’s data records will change the way you code
by Ben Evans
Inside Java 15: Fourteen JEPs in five buckets
Hidden classes, sealed classes, text blocks, records, and EdDSA: There’s lots of goodness in JDK 15.
by Alan Zeichick
Modern Java toys that boost productivity, from type inference to text blocks
Developers using older versions of the Java platform are missing out.
by Angie Jones
Programming the GPU in Java
Accessing the GPU from Java unleashes remarkable firepower. Here’s how the GPU works and how to access it from Java.
by Dmitry Aleksandrov
Five code review antipatterns
Everyone cares about best practices, but worst practices can sometimes be more illuminating.
by Trisha Gee
Easy searching with Elasticsearch
Using Elasticsearch’s high- and low-level APIs to search synchronously and asynchronously
by Henry Naftulin
12 recipes for using the Optional class as it’s meant to be used
Follow these dozen best practices to protect your applications against ugly null pointer exceptions—and make your code more readable and concise.
by Mohamed Taman
Understanding the JDK’s new superfast garbage collectors
ZGC, Shenandoah, and improvements to G1 get developers closer than ever to pauseless Java.
by Raoul-Gabriel Urma and Richard Warburton
Behind the scenes: How do lambda expressions really work in Java?
Look into the bytecode to see how Java handles lambdas.
by Ben Evans
Alan Zeichick
Editor in Chief, Java Magazine
Alan Zeichick is editor in chief of Java Magazine and editor at large of Oracle’s Content Central group. A former mainframe software developer and technology analyst, Alan has previously been the editor of AI Expert, Network Magazine, Software Development Times, Eclipse Review, and Software Test & Performance. Follow him on Twitter @zeichick.