Java 21’s Best Features: A Practical Guide for Modern DevOps

Java 21, released in September 2023, brings a host of improvements relevant to modern DevOps practices. This post highlights some of the most impactful features and demonstrates their practical applications.

Enhanced Performance and Efficiency

Virtual Threads (Project Loom)

Virtual threads significantly reduce the resource consumption of highly concurrent applications. They are lightweight, making it easier to manage thousands of concurrent tasks without the overhead of traditional threads. This translates to improved performance and scalability, crucial for microservices architectures.

ExecutorService executor = Executors.newVirtualThreadPerTaskExecutor();
for (int i = 0; i < 10000; i++) {
  executor.submit(() -> {
    // Your task here
  });
}

Structured Concurrency

Structured concurrency enhances code readability and manageability by ensuring that all related tasks within a block are properly handled, even in the face of exceptions. This improves error handling and simplifies debugging, streamlining the DevOps workflow.

StructuredTaskScope scope = new StructuredTaskScope.ShutdownOnFailure();
Future<String> result = scope.fork(() -> {
    // Perform some work
    return "Result";
});

// ... other tasks ...

String finalResult = scope.join(result);

Improved Developer Experience

Pattern Matching for switch (Enhancements)

Java 21 extends pattern matching for switch expressions to include case statements with guards, simplifying complex conditional logic. This leads to more concise and readable code, benefiting both developers and operations teams during code reviews and maintenance.

Object obj = ...;
switch (obj) {
    case String s && s.length() > 10 -> System.out.println("Long string");
    case Integer i && i > 100 -> System.out.println("Large integer");
    default -> System.out.println("Other");
}

Enhanced Security

While not explicitly a feature targeting DevOps directly, the continuous improvements to Java’s security model contribute to a more robust and secure application environment, reducing the operational burden of security vulnerabilities.

Conclusion

Java 21’s updates, especially virtual threads and structured concurrency, directly address challenges faced by modern DevOps teams. These features improve application performance, scalability, and developer productivity, leading to faster deployment cycles and more reliable systems. Adopting these features should be a priority for organizations aiming to optimize their Java-based infrastructure and streamline their DevOps processes.