7 Best Courses to learn JVM, Garbage Collection, and Performance Tuning in 2024
Hello guys, for a senior Java developer, it’s essential to know how JVM works and how to troubleshoot issues with respect to memory, most notably memory leaks in Java applications and servers like Tomcat. You might be thinking, how come memory leaks in Java?
Isn’t memory is managed by JVM and Garbage collector? Well, that’s true, but poor coding or just a bit of carelessness can cause memory leaks in Java. If you don’t know how to configure JVM, troubleshoot memory-related problems on the heap, and stack, you will struggle at a higher level.
That’s why it’s essential for experienced Java developers to spend some time learning these advanced skills as their experience grows.
If you are thinking on the same line and interested in learning JVM internals, memory management, GC, and Performance tuning this year then you have come to the right place.
In the past, I have shared some of the books and articles to learn about JVM internals and Garbage collection, and today, I’ll share some of the online courses you can join to learn JVM internals and performance tuning.
There are actually not many courses out there to learn JVM internals and Garbage collection algorithms in detail, but luckily there is one series in Pluarlasight that explores JVM internals in good detail covering ClassLoading, Memory Management, and Security.
That’s where I have learned some useful information and continue to go whenever I need to refresh my knowledge.
Along with that, there are a couple of excellent courses on Udemy as well, which teach you JVM internals and memory management. If you are serious about taking your Java skills to the next level, I strongly suggest you learn more about JVM internals; it’s one topic that can separate an experienced Java developer from a Java developer with some years of experience.
Top 7 Courses to learn JVM Internals, Garbage Collections, and Memory Management
As I have said, there are not many excellent courses to learn about JVM internals, memory management, and Garbage collection tuning online. These are somewhat considered an advanced topic, and many Java developer just doesn’t bother to learn about them.
But things are changing as performance is becoming significant, and senior Java developers are expected to know more about JVM than they currently do.
1. Java Application Performance and Memory Management
If you are a senior Java developer and want to improve your Java application performance skill then this is probably the best course to start with.
In this course, you’ll first learn what can cause performance issues in Java applications like threads, memory, Garbage collection, and how to resolve them.
It will also teach you some of the best practices which are available to Java developers at design-time like how to make good coding choices for optimal performance.
You’ll learn about various ways that you can configure the Java virtual machine to provide better performance at run-time. And we’ll be diving deep into how the virtual machine manages memory and the garbage collection process.
Here is the link to join this course — Java Application Performance and Memory Management
Along the way, we’ll be learning about the Just In Time compiler, performance testing and benchmarking, decompiling bytecode, using the GraalVM as an alternative virtual machine, and more. In short, one of the best course for experienced Java developer who is looking to take their skills to the next level.
2. Java Multithreading, Concurrency & Performance Optimization
This one is another excellent course for experienced Java developers looking to become an expert in Multithreading, Concurrency Parallel programming in Java, with a strong emphasis on high performance
In this course, you will learn all the essential tools you need to troubleshoot performance and memory-related issues, thread-related problems, and JVM-specific things.
As I have said before, tools are really important becuase a Java developer is as good as its tools. If you don’t know how to profile your Java application then you will never know which object is taking all the memory and where is the bottleneck in your code.
Similarly, if you can’t read the thread dump then you don’t know where exactly your program has stuck, are they waiting for the Database to respond or another server or waiting for some file lock. If you know the right tool, you can troubleshoot quickly and efficiently.
Here is the link to join this course — Java Multithreading, Concurrency & Performance Optimization
The good thing about this course is that it is designed to teach you “how to fish”. Instead of memorizing classes, libraries, or Java APIs, you will learn the fundamentals of concurrent programming, starting from the complete basics, all the way to the very advanced topics in multithreading.
3. Java Memory Management
This is an excellent course for Java professionals, particularly experienced Java developers, who need an in-depth understanding of how memory works in Java.
In this course, you’ll learn about how JVM memory is divided into different areas like a heap, stack, metaspace, etc. You will also learn about what kinds of memory leaks are possible in Java, and how to avoid them.
In addition, you’ll learn about tools that can be used to analyze the performance of your applications and detect inefficient memory usage, such as objects which are taking up too much memory or problems causing inefficient garbage collection.
The best part of the course is that you will not just learn about how to find these problems but also some real-world tips to solve those issues in your Java Application.
Here is the link to join this course — Java Memory Management
In short, a great course to learn about JVM memory, garbage collection, tuning the VM, and avoiding memory leaks in Java, and highly recommend it to all Java Programmers.
4. A Comprehensive Introduction to Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
This is another excellent course to learn about JVM internals like Class Loading, Reflection, Garbage Collection, Heap, Stack, and Bytecode Instruction Set.
In this course, instructor Dheeru Mundluru has demonstrated his extensive knowledge of JVM and what a Java developer should know about JVM. The first provides a brief overview of JVM along with some history and then moves on to more useful stuff like Reflection, JVM memory, Garbage collection, etc.
The course is neither too long nor too short for the topic. Within 4 hours, you will some critical things about JVM and walk out with a solid understanding of the Garbage Collection and its Algorithms.
Here is the link to join this course — A Comprehensive Introduction to Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
5. Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Memory Management
Pluralsight has a fantastic series on JVM, known as “Understanding the Java Virtual Machine” by Kevin Jones. It’s a three-part series where each part covers key JVM concepts like Memory Management, Class loading and Reflection, and Security.
This course is the first part of the series and covers all aspects of Garbage collection in Java, including how memory is split into generations and managed. And how the different Garbage Collectors like Concurrent Mark Sweep and G1 Garbage Collector do their job.
The course also covers some advanced concepts which allow you to interact with the garbage collection, like Soft Reference, Weak reference, and Phantom Reference classes.
Here is the link to join this course —Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Memory Management
6. Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Security
This is the third part of the series “Understanding the Java Virtual Machine” on Pluralsight, and it’s focused on Security. If you remember, Java security is built around the idea of permissions and policy. Java Code is granted permissions based on the currently in-force policy.
In this course, you will learn how the security manager and access controller work hand-in-hand to provide this security. The course also covers how to set a security manager and how to set up and edit a policy file to grant the levels of permissions that code needs.
Finally, It covers the idea of ‘privileged scope,’ which allows code to be granted some permission even when code around them should cause the grant to fail.
Here is the link to join this course — Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Security
Overall a comprehensive course to learn JVM Security in-depth and must for any Senior Java developers who want to master JVM internals.
7. Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Class Loading and Reflection
This is the second part of the series, “Understanding the Java Virtual Machine,” and it’s focused on Classloading and Reflection.
Though it’s not required to go through this course in any order, you can just choose the topic you want to learn first and then explore further.
In this course, you will learn about how class loading mechanisms work and how to write class loaders. Once you understand this concept, you can understand how things like hot deployment of classes in Java applications and how the side-by-side loading of classes work. You will also learn about how class loaders work in Java.
Here is the link to join this course —Understanding the Java Virtual Machine: Class Loading and Reflection
Another topic that is covered by this course is Reflection, another tool that helps you to interact with JVM. Java has a rich type system and rich metadata. Reflection is the mechanism by which you can examine that metadata at runtime and use that information to build rich applications like tools, IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJIDEA, etc.
Btw, you would need a Pluralsight membership to get access to these three JVM online courses, which costs around $29 per month or $299 annually (14% discount).
If you don’t have Pluralsight membership, I encourage you to get one because it allows you to access their 5000+ online courses on all the latest topics like front-end and back-end development, machine learning, etc. It also includes interactive quizzes, exercises, and the latest certification material.
They also provide a 10-day free trial without any commitment, which is a great way to not just access this course for free but also to check the quality of courses before joining Pluralsight.
That’s all about some of the best courses to learn JVM internals, Garbage Collection, and Memory management. You will also learn how to hunt memory leaks and fix them in Java applications in Java.
As I have said in the past, then there are not many excellent courses to learn JVM internals and Garbage collection, but these are the best I have got so far. You can also combine these courses with books like Java Performance The Definitive Guide to get the best of both worlds.
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Thanks for reading this article so far. If you like these JVM internals and Memory management courses in Java, then please share them with your friends and colleagues. If you have any questions or feedback, then please drop a note.
P.S. — If you like to read books, you can also check out this list of books to learn JVM and Garbage collection better. The file contains some of the best books on the topic of JVM internals and performance tuning.
P. S. S. — If you need more courses on Java Performance, I also suggest you check out Java Multithreading, Concurrency, and Performance Optimization by Michael Pogrebinsky on Udemy, I just loved this course and I highly recommend anyone who wants to learn high-performance Java application.
