What’s New in Java for 2025?

A lot of the tools are still pretty familiar. While streams were introduced, their impact hasn't been huge; Java still leans towards OOP. Oracle remains the main player with OpenJDK around. Many developers have branched out to other languages—Kotlin if they're still in the JVM space, but others are leaning towards Python, Go, or JavaScript.

Java has introduced a ton of new features recently! Performance has ramped up significantly with additions like virtual threads and improved garbage collection. Project Leyden is also in play, which has already started to show a 30% improvement in startup time without requiring changes to existing code.

Valhalla is finally starting to deliver some new JEPs, which will bring in some cool features like null safety. Don't forget about records and pattern matching—those are noteworthy additions too! Speaking of speed, Quarkus is a big deal now; it's designed to allow enterprise Java servers to start in under 100 milliseconds using GraalVM to compile to native images. It's not a game-changer, but it maintains backward compatibility and delivers practical enhancements.

Spring Boot is still the dominant framework, and I doubt that will change anytime soon! IntelliJ has really upped its game with AI features, making coding easier than ever. Honestly, there's barely anyone coding Java in VSCode, aside from some students without access to better IDEs.

Maven and Gradle are still the standards—integrated into most deployment platforms. I’ve noticed Kotlin has become popular, especially for Android development, although its use in Spring Boot backends is still catching on. Functional programming concepts like lambdas and streams are now considered basic knowledge in Java. Pattern matching and other exciting features are coming, but specifications are in flux.

And hey, you can finally learn beyond Java 8 from the official docs now!