Book excerpt: Enhance your development skills with Java's state-of-the-art features and projects to make your applications leaner and faster Key Features Overcome the challenges involved in migrating to new versions of Java Discover how Oracle has bridged the gap between Java and native code Make the best use of new Java features and libraries in your applications Book Description With its new six-monthly release cadence, Java is moving forward faster. In addition to planned version releases, a lot of work is currently being undertaken on various Java projects at Oracle. In order to make best use of the new features in their applications and libraries, you must be well-versed with the most recent advancements. Java 11 and 12 - New Features will take you through the latest developments in Java, right from variable type inference and simplified multithreading through to performance improvements, which are covered in depth to help you make your applications more efficient. This book explains the relevance and applicability of Java's new features, and answers your questions on whether to invest in migrating to new Java versions and when to migrate. You'll also get to grips with platform features, such as AppCDS and new garbage collectors, to tune and optimize your application--from reduced launch time and latency to improved performance and throughput. By the end of this book, you will be equipped with a thorough understanding of the new features of Java 11, 12, and Project Amber, and possess the skills to apply them with a view to improving your application's performance. What you will learn Study type interference and how to work with the var type Understand Class-Data Sharing, its benefits, and limitations Discover platform options to reduce your application's launch time Improve application performance by switching garbage collectors Get up to date with the new Java release cadence Define and assess decision criteria for migrating to a new version of Java Who this book is for If you're an executive or solutions architect responsible for technology selection or Java migration decisions, this Java book is for you. You'll also benefit from this book if you're a computer science enthusiast curious to learn about the latest and upcoming Java features. This book will help you migrate your solutions from Java 8 or older to the latest Java release.