At present, Java is more popular than other programming language. It is also the only programming language which is currently used widely for development of desktop, web, and mobile applications. The popularity of Java will remain intact in 2018. But the trends in Java technology will change from time to time. For instance, most programmers will upgrade to Java SE 9 and JDK 9 to avail a number of new features and enhancements.

1. Current Trends in Java Technology

2.  At present, Java is more popular than other programming language. It is also the only
programming language which is currently used widely for development of desktop, web,
and mobile applications.
 The popularity of Java will remain intact in 2018. But the trends in Java technology will
change from time to time.
 For instance, most programmers will upgrade to Java SE 9 and JDK 9 to avail a number of
new features and enhancements.
 Java 9 has a lot of exciting features, that will further help programmers to write better
applications for big and small devices by dividing JDK into multiple modules.
 Hence, it becomes essential for software developers to monitor the emerging trends in
Java technology.

3. Identifying Major Trends in Java Technology
Migration to Java 9
 Oracle released Java SE 9 officially in September 2017. The latest version of Java comes with over 150 new
features and application programming interfaces (APIs).
 The new language features provided by Java SE 9 includes a module system, ahead-of-time compilation, a
new real-eval-print-loop (REPL) command line tool, and improved support for HTML5 and JavaScript.
 Also, Java SE 9 comes with a new multi-resolution image API, an improved stream API, stack-waling API,
and Datagram Transport Layer Security (DTLS) API.
 Many developers will migrate from Java SE 8 to Java SE 9 to accelerate development of applications for
both large and small devices by leveraging these new features and APIs.

4. Modularity Design Principle
 Project Jigsaw was launched with the primary objective to modularize Java Development Kit (JDK). In addition
to modularizing JDK 9, Project Jigsaw further enables programmers to take advantage of a standard module
system. Hence, programmers can now take advantage of a widely used design pri ciple — odularity while
writing applications in Java 9. They can simplify development of large and complex applications by divining the
program into multiple modules and deploy the modules as loosely coupled units. Also, the developers are run
the applications smoothly on small devices without installing JDK fully.
A Variety of Modules
 In addition to dividing a program into modules, Java SE 9 also enables programmers to use a variety of
odules — applicatio modules, unnamed modules, automated modules and platform modules. The
programmers can use application modules to achieve specific functionality. Likewise, they can use unnamed
modules to include JAR files and classes on the class path. Automated modules can be used for exporting the
required packages and access other modules. At the same time, Project Jigsaw divides JDK into a number of
platform modules. These modules will completely change the way programmers write applications in Java.

5. Kotlin for Android App Development
 At present, mobile app developers have option to choose from two official programming languages for Android
develop e t — Java and Kotlin. Hence, Java is no longer the default programming language for Android app
development.
 In addition to running on Java Virtual Machine (JVM), Kotlin is also fully interoperable with Java. But Kotlin,
unlike Java, comes with specific features to simplify Android app development and app code maintenance.
 Also, it further comes with a number of language features to address common Java issues.
 Hence, many mobile app developers will prefer writing Android app in Kotlin instead of Java. Kotlin even have
the potential to impact the massive popularity of Java programming language in 2018.

6. IoT Application Development
 The smart machine-to-machine communication facilitated by Internet of Things (IoT) will require
programmers to write completely different applications. In an IoT environment, various devices will
communicate with each other over the internet.
 But each connected device must include an embedded application to communicate with other devices and
exchange data.
 Unlike other programming languages, Java is compatible with a wide range of devices and platforms. It
further accelerates development of a variety of embedded applications by providing a wide range of APIs and
libraries.
 Hence, Java will be used widely by programmers for development of embedded applications for IoT
environments.

7. Development of Custom Big Data Solutions
 Most enterprises nowadays use custom software to process huge amount of data collected from various
sources. Java does not come with built-in features to simplify development of custom big data solutions.
 But the developers can take advantage of a wide range of development tools and frameworks to build custom
big data solutions in Java rapidly.
 For instance, Hadoop, Accumulo, HBase, ElasticSearch, and similar Java frameworks help programmers to build
custom big data solutions according to varying business needs.
 However, many programmers also prefer writing big data solutions in JVM programming languages like Scala.
 There are also a number of IDEs that can be used for writing big data solutions in Java or Scala.These
development tools will keep Java popular for custom big data solution development.

8. New Development Tools and Frameworks
 Java SE 9 comes with several new features and enhancements. These new features help programmers to
write application for devices of varying sizes. But the developers will still need robust development tools and
frameworks to accelerate custom software development.
 Many development tools are yet to support Java SE 9. But the development tools must be upgraded to
remain relevant and useful for Java programmers.
 The Java developers will further need robust frameworks to build IoT applications, real-time software,
embedded software, and big data solutions.
 The new tools will contribute immensely towards keeping Java popular in the long run.
 On the whole, the trends in Java technology may change from time to time. The smart Java developers
always monitor and adopt the emerging trends in Java technology to keep their software applications
relevant and popular in the long run.

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