Current Trends in Java Technology

At present, Java is more popular than other programming language. It is also the only programming language which is currently used widely for development of desktop, web, and mobile applications. The popularity of Java will remain intact in 2018. But the trends in Java technology will change from time to time. For instance, most programmers will upgrade to Java SE 9 and JDK 9 to avail a number of new features and enhancements. Java 9 has a lot of exciting features, that will further help programmers to write better applications for big and small devices by dividing JDK into multiple modules. Hence, it becomes essential for software developers to monitor the emerging trends in Java technology.

Identifying Major Trends in Java Technology

Migration to Java 9

Oracle released Java SE 9 officially in September 2017. The latest version of Java comes with over 150 new features and application programming interfaces (APIs). The new language features provided by Java SE 9 includes a module system, ahead-of-time compilation, a new real-eval-print-loop (REPL) command line tool, and improved support for HTML5 and JavaScript. Also, Java SE 9 comes with a new multi-resolution image API, an improved stream API, stack-waling API, and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) API. Many developers will migrate from Java SE 8 to Java SE 9 to accelerate development of applications for both large and small devices by leveraging these new features and APIs.

Modularity Design Principle

Project Jigsaw was launched with the primary objective to modularize Java Development Kit (JDK). In addition to modularizing JDK 9, Project Jigsaw further enables programmers to take advantage of a standard module system. Hence, programmers can now take advantage of a widely used design principle — modularity while writing applications in Java 9. They can simplify development of large and complex applications by divining the program into multiple modules and deploy the modules as loosely coupled units. Also, the developers are run the applications smoothly on small devices without installing JDK fully.

A Variety of Modules

In addition to dividing a program into modules, Java SE 9 also enables programmers to use a variety of modules — application modules, unnamed modules, automated modules and platform modules. The programmers can use application modules to achieve specific functionality. Likewise, they can use unnamed modules to include JAR files and classes on the class path. Automated modules can be used for exporting the required packages and access other modules. At the same time, Project Jigsaw divides JDK into a number of platform modules. These modules will completely change the way programmers write applications in Java.

Kotlin for Android App Development

At present, mobile app developers have option to choose from two official programming languages for Android development — Java and Kotlin. Hence, Java is no longer the default programming language for Android app development. In addition to running on Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Kotlin is also fully interoperable with Java. But Kotlin, unlike Java, comes with specific features to simplify Android app development and app code maintenance. Also, it further comes with a number of language features to address common Java issues. Hence, many mobile app developers will prefer writing Android app in Kotlin instead of Java. Kotlin even have the potential to impact the massive popularity of Java programming language in 2018.

IoT Application Development

The smart machine-to-machine communication facilitated by Internet of Things (IoT) will require programmers to write completely different applications. In an IoT environment, various devices will communicate with each other over the internet. But each connected device must include an embedded application to communicate with other devices and exchange data. Unlike other programming languages, Java is compatible with a wide range of devices and platforms. It further accelerates development of a variety of embedded applications by providing a wide range of APIs and libraries. Hence, Java will be used widely by programmers for development of embedded applications for IoT environments.

Real Time Application Development

A large number of equipments and devices nowadays deliver accurate information quickly though real-time software applications. While developing real-time applications, many programmers prefer Java to other programming languages. The APIs provided by Java SE further help programmers to write custom real-time applications for a variety of devices and equipments. The developers can further take advantage of the APIs provided by Java SE to implement the real-time applications efficiently and integrate the applications with third-party applications and components seamlessly. Java will be used widely by programmers for development of real-time applications in near future.

Development of Custom Big Data Solutions

Most enterprises nowadays use custom software to process huge amount of data collected from various sources. Java does not come with built-in features to simplify development of custom big data solutions. But the developers can take advantage of a wide range of development tools and frameworks to build custom big data solutions in Java rapidly. For instance, Hadoop, Accumulo, HBase, ElasticSearch, and similar Java frameworks help programmers to build custom big data solutions according to varying business needs. However, many programmers also prefer writing big data solutions in JVM programming languages like Scala. There are also a number of IDEs that can be used for writing big data solutions in Java or Scala. These development tools will keep Java popular for custom big data solution development.

New Development Tools and Frameworks

Java SE 9 comes with several new features and enhancements. These new features help programmers to write application for devices of varying sizes. But the developers will still need robust development tools and frameworks to accelerate custom software development. Many development tools are yet to support Java SE 9. But the development tools must be upgraded to remain relevant and useful for Java programmers. The Java developers will further need robust frameworks to build IoT applications, real-time software, embedded software, and big data solutions. The new tools will contribute immensely towards keeping Java popular in the long run.

On the whole, the trends in Java technology may change from time to time. The smart Java developers always monitor and adopt the emerging trends in Java technology to keep their software applications relevant and popular in the long run.