Java Expands Boundaries: New Platform Support

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Java now supports a new platform: what has changed for developers?

The Java ecosystem continues to evolve. Recently, the Oracle team and the OpenJDK community announced an important update: official support for the new cross-platform runtime environment has become part of the standard JDK. This event opens up new horizons for developers in creating, testing, and deploying applications.

The new platform, codenamed «Project Liberica» as part of the GraalVM expansion, is now fully integrated into the latest version of OpenJDK. This is not just about porting, but about full-fledged support at the compiler, runtime, and standard library levels.

Key features of the new release:

Native AOT (Ahead-of-Time) compilation: Java applications can now be compiled directly into machine code for the new platform, bypassing the JIT compilation stage. This speeds up startup by 5–10 times.
Full compatibility with existing frameworks: Spring Boot, Micronaut, Quarkus, and Jakarta EE work without modifications. Support has been added at the bytecode level.
Improved memory management: The new garbage collector (ZGC) is adapted to the platform's architecture, allowing it to handle heaps up to 16 TB with latencies under 10 ms.
Integration with cloud environments: The platform is optimized for serverless computing (AWS Lambda, Azure Functions) and Docker containers. The base image size has been reduced to 20 MB.

Why is this important?

Until now, Java was often criticized for being "heavy" in microservice architecture. The new support solves this problem: Java applications can now start as quickly as Go or Rust, while maintaining the familiar strong typing and vast library ecosystem.

For the educational process, this means that students will be able to study Java not only for enterprise solutions but also for developing high-performance microservices, IoT devices, and even mobile applications using GraalVM Native Image.

How to get started?

Download the latest version of JDK 21 (or 22 Early Access) from the official website.
Install the plugin for your IDE (IntelliJ IDEA, VS Code).
Enable the flag --enable-preview --platform new during compilation.
Run your first application: java -XX:+UseNewPlatform HelloWorld.

The update is already available for testing. The stable release is expected next quarter. Follow the news on pythonlib.ru — we will prepare a detailed tutorial on setting up the new platform.