Java/Java SE 14: What's New, Release History & EOL Status

What Is New in Java 14

Java 14 delivers a mix of finalized preview features, productivity enhancements, and performance improvements. This release continues the pattern of introducing features in preview status for real-world feedback before they become permanent.

What are the headline features in Java 14?

The standout features are preview versions of Records and Pattern Matching for instanceof. Records provide a compact syntax for declaring classes that are transparent holders for shallowly immutable data, reducing a ton of boilerplate code.

Pattern Matching enhances the instanceof operator by allowing you to declare a binding variable right in the expression. This eliminates the need for an explicit cast after the instanceof check, making code cleaner and less error-prone.

Pattern Matching for instanceof Example

// Old way
if (obj instanceof String) {
    String s = (String) obj;
    System.out.println(s.length());
}

// New way (Preview)
if (obj instanceof String s) {
    System.out.println(s.length());
}

How do Text Blocks improve in this release?

Text Blocks enter their second preview with two new escape sequences. This feature simplifies writing multi-line strings for JSON, HTML, SQL, and other formats without a mess of concatenation and escape characters.

The new \s escape signifies an obligatory space that won't be stripped by the compiler's whitespace removal process. Additionally, the new \ escape at the end of a line prevents the insertion of a newline character, allowing you to break up a long string for readability without adding the line break.

Text Block Escape Sequences

String text = """
    {
        "name": "John",\s
        "age": 30\
    }
    """;

What makes the new NullPointerExceptions better?

The JVM now provides detailed messages telling you exactly what was null when a NullPointerException (NPE) is thrown. This is a huge time-saver during debugging, as you no longer have to dissect a line of code to figure out which variable or method call caused the failure.

This feature is enabled by default. Instead of a generic error line number, you get a message like "Cannot invoke 'String.length()' because the return value of 'foo.getBar()' is null". It precisely pinpoints the source of the null value in a chain of method calls or field accesses.

Are there any new garbage collection features?

Java 14 introduces a new experimental garbage collector called ZGC (Z Garbage Collector) for macOS and Windows, joining its existing availability on Linux. ZGC is designed for low-latency applications with very large heaps.

Additionally, the combination of the Parallel Scavenge and SerialOld garbage collection algorithms has been deprecated. This is a signal to developers using this combination to begin migrating to other GC combinations, as it will likely be removed in a future release.

What tools are new for Java developers?

The jpackage tool is now a standard feature. It allows you to package a Java application into a platform-specific native package, such as a DMG for macOS, MSI for Windows, or DEB/RPM for Linux. This simplifies application distribution significantly.

Beyond packaging, the JDK also includes a new NUMA-aware memory allocation mode for the G1 garbage collector. On Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA) systems, this can lead to improved performance by optimizing memory access patterns.