Highlighting the major differences between JAVA 20 and JAVA 21

In the present trend, many people are facing numerous challenges with the recent updates of the JAVA versions. Are you one of them? If yes, you are not a single person. JAVA can be compared with a tree with several branches, where it has been releasing a new version as a branch twice a year. Every version is released with unique features and a lot of improvements were brought. Currently, as of September 2023, JAVA 21 has been launched and this would be continued. Let's have a brief discussion about the top differences between JAVA 20 and JAVA 21.

Different versions of JAVA

JAVA has countless versions with exclusive features and enhancements from past years. Among these versions, there are certain common ones such as Java SE 8, Java SE 11, and Java SE 16 and one can determine the JAVA version in your laptop by utilizing the JAVA version command. The first version of JAVA was released in the year 1996 and later JAVA 1.1 in 1997, JAVA 5.0 in 2004, and the chain has continued to JAVA 21. Evolving from other programming languages with certain breakages in every version, but JAVA is something bigger. JAVA improves its features in every upgraded version, as it is completely backward.

Top differences between JAVA 20 and JAVA 21

The latest version of JAVA was released on September 2023, with drastic updates from JAVA 20 and 17. People linked with Oracle licensing might be less interested in the new launch, however, this release has significant relevance to earlier releases. Here are important changes, improvements, and eliminating of features that have taken place.

Five new features are involved under the core JAVA library, including JEP 429, JEP 432, JEP 436, JEP437, and JEP 438. The biggest change that was brought from the version JAVA 20 to JAVA 21  is the inclusion of virtual threads. These are the threads with lightweight and that reduce the effort of writing, maintaining, and picking concurrent applications. Till JAAV 20 virtual threads are implemented as wrappers around the Operating system, but you need to wait a longer time for approval. To modify this disadvantage JAVA 21 has bought specific changes and released a version, where one can save time.

The other difference between JAVA 20 and JAVA 21 includes Sequenced Collections, which fills the lack of a collection that exemplifies a sequence of elements with a defined order. The overcharge of JAVA 21 involves record patterns, which elevates the programming language to deconstruct record values. The other update from JAVA 21 involves string templates, which are invented to simplify the process of string formatting and manipulation in Java. with the help of this new version, developers can incorporate directly with string literals, facilitating the creation of complex strings.