Java News: Trends in 2024 – End of support for Java SE 11 LTS, new Java 22 and Java 23 releases

In the 28 years since its inception, Java has gained more than 9 million users and has become a popular cross-platform programming language. This is due to its versatility, from simple desktop applications, microservices and mobile applications to complex enterprise business applications. In recent years, it has also seen its rise in the cloud, blockchain and, more recently, machine learning and AI-based applications. There are comprehensive libraries and frameworks for all of these areas, making software development faster and easier to integrate. The Java programming language is definitely one of the top three most in-demand programming languages on the job market today, with fierce competition coming mainly from Python and, in the Android space, Kotlin.

However, developers of new enterprise applications will most often turn to Java, and there are a huge number of applications written in Java that need to be updated with new features to remain relevant and attractive to demanding customers, so we dare say that the high demand for Java developers will continue in 2024, as it did last year.

So what trends can we expect to see in different areas of Java in 2024? Let’s take a look together.

A significant rise of Java SE 17 (LTS)

Despite the release of the Java 20 SDK and Java SE 21 LTS (with long-term support) last year, most organizations are still running older versions of Java (namely Java 8 and 11) and are very reluctant to migrate to newer versions. This is due to the “if it works, don’t change it” mentality and the increased cost of migration. However, as free support for Java SE 11 LTS ends this year (paid support will continue), many development organizations will be under pressure to migrate their projects to a higher version of Java, which will bring them improvements in performance and security, as well as a host of new features.

It is Java 17, released in September 2021, which is now considered the minimum baseline, as it brings many improvements and innovations, bug fixes and long-term free support until 2027. Read about the Java SE 8 – SE 17 updates in our previous article. However, if I were to personally upgrade to a newer version, I would choose last year’s Java SE 21 LTS to ensure free support until 2029.

It is worth noting that two new versions, Java 22 and Java 23, are scheduled for release this year.

Cloud computing trend

There’s no denying that cloud computing has changed the face of Java. Cloud computing provides a paid platform for hosting (not only) Java applications and allows scaling and allocation of hardware resources as needed. This trend towards using cloud computing solutions has made cloud services such as AWS (Amazon Web Services) and Google Cloud Platform extremely popular for building, deploying and managing Java applications today, and will certainly continue to do so in 2024 as the number of people using modern cloud applications continues to grow.

Java enables developers to create scalable applications that take full advantage of the cloud, and technologies such as Kubernetes and Docker can be seamlessly integrated with Java frameworks.

Microservices

Speaking of scalability, it is microservices that have gained popularity due to the benefits of flexibility and faster time to market. The Java ecosystem also provides developers in this area with robust frameworks to facilitate the development of microservices-based architectures, most notably Spring Boot and Micronaut.

Mobile applications

While Java has historically been used to implement business logic on the server side or to develop mobile applications for Android, this trend has changed in recent years. With the introduction of frameworks such as React Native, Kotlin Multiplatform, Java has enabled Java developers to move into the development of native multiplatform mobile applications that run on both competing mobile platforms, iOS and Android.

DevOps

A relatively new trend in software development is DevOps. It offers practices aimed at improving the efficiency of the integration process (CI – Continuous Integration) and software release (CD – Continuous Delivery). DevOps is particularly well suited to Java applications because of its strong support for tools such as Jenkins, Gradle and Maven to streamline the software development lifecycle.

Machine learning

Although Java has historically been seen as the main programming language for complex enterprise applications, its versatility has extended into lesser-known areas such as machine learning. Traditionally, Python has reigned supreme in this area, but with libraries such as Deeplearning4j and Apache Mahout, developers are getting their hands on powerful tools for analyzing quantum data, training complex data models, and building intelligent applications. With its huge user base, it’s only a matter of time before Java conquers machine learning and reaches the level of Python.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

One of the most visible trends in information technology is the emergence of artificial intelligence, popularized by OpenAI with its ChatGPT chatbot. It is a rapidly and dynamically growing industry that has caused a similar uproar to the last time the internet was introduced to people. Companies see huge potential in using a variety of intelligent assistants in their business to help them optimize costs, increase productivity and efficiency of the work done. This will also lead to job cuts or retraining for other positions.

Java, as one of the most widely used object-oriented programming languages, is not going to be left behind, and libraries and frameworks are already being developed for developing applications that take advantage of new AI technologies. The advantage of Java is that it can run on any device due to its portability and platform independence, and this will be one of the reasons why AI developers will choose it as their main programming language.

Blockchain

We have all heard of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin and ethereum, which use blockchain technology. This, along with AI, is one of the big trends that could change information technology as we know it forever. Although blockchain is primarily dominated by C, Go, Rust on the server side and JavaScript on the client side, a number of developers have recently switched to Java (see article on the differences between msg life Slovakia for 2024 is clear. The trend in msg life Slovakia for 2024 is clear. We are looking for skilled Java developers who want to work in a company where cooperation is based on a family atmosphere, where everyone is important and where the basis of success is happy employees (see our employee benefits). Our commitment is underlined by our 7th place ranking in the 2023 Employer of the Year survey.

If you are interested in working for a company that follows current IT trends, educates the Java community on the msgprogramtor.sk blog, and focuses on clean and efficient code, choose from our current job offers. Don’t worry if you don’t meet all our requirements, many of our employees learn on the job through training and workshops. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll see you on YouTube in a podcast with Mišo Hucko.

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