08 July, 2014

What is the Future of Java Web Development?

As a concurrent and powerful programming language, Java enables developers to run their code on multiple platforms without recompilation. Java is currently reported to be used by over nine million developers to client-server web application development. While releasing Java 8 officially, Oracle called it as “the Most Significant Upgrade to the Java Programming Model Ever.” Oracle even delayed the release of the most anticipated version of the programming language to make it meet the ongoing and upcoming trends in web application development. The new features will definitely contribute towards increasing the increasing the popularity and market share of Java in the future.

Key Java 8 Features Web Developers were Looking for

Lambdas
Lambdas or closures are the most prominent feature of Java 8. The programmers can use lambdas to treat functionality as a method argument, treat code as data, and accomplish certain task by using concepts they are familiar with. Oracle has further designed lambdas after detailed discussion with the community of developers. Lambdas can be simply represented as a list of parameter separated using commas. However, developers have emerged the concept of functional interface by making existing functionality of the programming language lambda-friendly.

Extended Interface Declarations
The updates version of Java further uses default and static methods to extend the interface declarations. Despite making interfaces similar to traits, default method helps developers in accomplishing a different goal. They can use the method to add new methods to an existing interface without affecting the code’s binary compatibility with over versions of the interface. On the other hand, the abstract method can be user to accomplish these tasks without being implemented. As the default implementation needs to be provided by each interface, the implementers can inherit it by default.

StampedLocks
Often developers find it daunting to write multi-threaded code. They also have to use complex idioms to the core Java libraries to access the required resources by reducing the thread wait. Java 8 comes with StampedLock, a new and improved ReadWriteLock that works more quickly. However, the new ReadWriteLock is complex, and the programmers have to put some efforts to implement the concept properly.

Process Termination
When a web application has to launch an external process, its performance will be affected hugely when the process hangs, crashes or consumes 100% CPU. The developers have to debug the web application again to make it run smoothly. But Java 8 comes with the Process class that allows developers to manage these unruly processes smoothly by using the isAlive() and destroyForcibly() methods. The isAlive() method can be used to check if the external process is still alive, whereas the destroyForcibly() method will kill the timed-out process forcibly.

Controlling OS Processes
The JNI calls make it easier for developers to launch OS process from within the code. But there are always chances that the OS process may fetch unexpected results or affect the functionality of the internet application. Once a process is launched within the Java code, it tends to dangle. Java 8 enables developers to control the OS processes launched within the code efficiently by using three new methods. Along with checking if the process is alive and killing a process forcibly, the programmers can further use the method to specific amount of time they want the web application to wait for the process to be completed.

Repeating Annotations
Java 8 allows programmers to use annotation in any context. Now they have option to use annotations for almost everything in their code including generic types, local variables, super classes, interface implementation, parameter declaration, and declaration of method’s exceptions. The extended usage of annotation makes Java 8 friendlier for instrumentation tools and static analysis. However, the programmers have to decide when to use annotations according to the nature and needs of the code.

There are also a number of features that make Java 8 a powerful programming language for web application development. Some of these Java 8 features will further make it easier for developers to build large and complex internet applications within a stipulated time frame.

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