Author Archives: Johannes Bechberger

About Johannes Bechberger

Lutske de Leeuw is a Software Engineer at Craftsmen and co-organizer of JUG Noord and ApeldoornJUG. A Java developer at heart and full-stack by trade. She loves to share knowledge through storytelling, often featuring animals like cats or llamas to make complex topics more relatable. She regularly speaks across Europe about AI and software craftsmanship. Lutske studied Computer Science and completed a Deep Learning specialization, and she enjoys experimenting with AI to bridge the gap between innovation and everyday development. Passionate about Devoxx4Kids and other knowledge-sharing initiatives, she believes learning should always be fun and accessible for everyone.

Java 26 is boring, and that’s a good thing

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A joint article with Lutske de Leeuw.

When people hear “boring tech”, they usually mean old, slow, or not innovative. But in production, boring implies something very different. Boring means predictable, with no surprises. Boring means your system still works at 3 a.m. when nobody wants to debug a memory leak. And boring also means that you can understand your system years after you wrote it.

Many platforms try to impress developers with significant changes, shiny rewrites, or breaking updates. Java took another path. Java optimizes for trust.

That choice has a cost. Java can look conservative next to languages that ship new syntax, stronger type-system guarantees, or more ambitious standard-library features, much faster. From the outside, that can make Java seem like it is standing still, even as the platform improves underneath.

If a Java release feels boring, that usually means:

  • Your code still compiles
  • Your APIs will still work
  • Your upgrade does not turn into a rewrite project

And that’s not a weakness. That’s why Java has survived for decades

TL;DR: Java 26 is usefully boring

If you only remember one thing: Java 26 is not flashy, but it quietly improves the runtime and platform where it matters.

  • JEP 522 (G1 throughput): apps can get faster (often 5-15%) without code changes.
  • JEP 516 (AOT object caching with any GC): better startup behavior, especially for microservices.
  • JEP 517 (HTTP/3): modern protocol support in the standard client, with fallback.
  • JEP 500 (final means final): fewer reflection hacks, more predictable behavior.
  • JEP 504 (remove applets): old, dead tech finally cleaned up.
  • JEP 524, JEP 525, JEP 526, JEP 529, JEP 530: previews/incubator maturing steadily.
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