One of the major focuses of Java 22 is reducing complexity for developers.

New features in Java 22 that Traversat highlighted include standardizing API interfaces and improving concurrency management to make the language more expressive.

One key set of enhancements comes from Project Amber — the changes are designed to make writing Java code less tedious. Constructors can now include statements before explicit superclass constructor invocations, removing the need to factor out logic into separate methods. Developers can also use unnamed variables and patterns where declarations are required but names are irrelevant. These improvements promise to eliminate boilerplate code and reduce errors.

For structured concurrency, Java 22 previews new APIs from Project Loom to handle errors and cancellation more elegantly. Immutable data sharing between threads also becomes easier. Both features aim to improve the robustness and comprehension of multi-threaded code.

“It’s all around this area of, How do we make sure that Java is attractive to developers?” Traversat said.