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GraalVM Offers COBOL Support

GrааlVM hаs intrоduсed suрроrt fоr СОBОL, extending the suрроrt where а single runtime саn suрроrt multiрle interорerаble lаnguаges. This hаs extended the reасh оf Jаvа (the lаnguаge) thаt cаn run оn multiрle рlаtfоrms tо Jаvа (the virtuаl mасhine) thаt cаn run mаny lаnguаges оn mаny рlаtfоrms.

The wоrk wаs intrоduсed by Сhristорh Sсhоbesberger in Осtоber thrоugh his reseаrсh wоrk аt JKU Linz University. The teсhnоlоgy wоrks thrоugh GrааlVM’s integrаtiоn with LLVM bitсоde. The раth thrоugh LLVM differs frоm the wаy thаt HоtSроt imрlementаtiоns provide suрроrt fоr аlternаtive lаnguаges like Nаshоrn (JаvаSсriрt in Jаvа 8, deрreсаted lаter) аnd JRuby (аn асtive externаl рrоjeсt). Where the HоtSроt imрlementаtiоns tаrget Jаvа byteсоde аnd JSR-292 (dynаmiс lаnguаges) аnd its subsequent JIT орtimizаtiоns, GrааlVM lаnguаges like TruffleRuby рursue орtimizаtiоn аt the LLVM level fоr nаtive аheаd-оf-time соmрilаtiоn. GrааlVM аlsо оffers а HоtSроt mоde араrt frоm its nаtive соmрilаtiоn.

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Six More JEPs Proposed for JDK 14

Check out the newest proposals for JDK 14!

A recent Mark Reinhold message announces six new "JEPs proposed to target JDK 14": JEP 345, JEP 361, JEP 363, JEP 364, JEP 365, and JEP 367. Assuming no objections are made by November 7, these JEPs will be targeted to JDK 14 along with previously targeted JEPs JEP 349 ("JFR Event Streaming"), JEP 352 ("Non-Volatile Mapped Byte Buffers"), and JEP 358 (" Helpful NullPointerExceptions"). This post summarizes each of these six JEPs proposed for targeting JDK 14.

JEP 345: NUMA-Aware Memory Allocation for G1

The succinct "Summary" of JEP 345 states, "Improve G1 performance on large machines by implementing NUMA-aware memory allocation." Two important "non-goals" of this JEP indicate that the JEP is only intended to add NUMA (non-uniform memory access) support to the G1 garbage collector and only for Linux. However, the JEP also points out that "the parallel collector, enabled by -XX:+UseParallelGC, has been NUMA-aware for many years."

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Amazon Corretto 8

Amazon Corretto is a production-ready distribution of OpenJDK with long-term support including performance and security updates provided by Amazon.

AWS Open Source@AWSOpen

Amazon Corretto 8, our no-cost, multiplatform, production-ready distribution of OpenJDK, is now Generally Available. Read all about what's new, including support for additional platforms, at: https://amzn.to/2WuYbgY Download from https://amzn.to/2Wz2pEd

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JDK 13: What Is AggressiveOpts?

The Java VM flag -XX:+AggressiveOpts was deprecated in JDK 11 [see JDK-8199777 and JDK-8199778] "because its behavior is ill-defined." The "Problem" section of JDK-8199778 further explains (I added the emphasis):

AggressiveOpts has been used as a catch-all method of enabling various experimental performance features, mostly targeted to improve score on very specific benchmarks. Most things it affected have been removed or integrated over time, leaving the behavior of the flag ill-defined and prone to cause more issues than it'll solve. The only effect that the flag currently has is setting AutoBoxCacheMax = 20000 and BiasedLockingStartupDelay = 500. Both can be done manually by setting the corresponding flags on the command line.

According to the document "Java HotSpot VM Options," the -XX:+AggressiveOpts flag was added with J2SE 5 Update 6 to "turn on point performance compiler optimizations that are expected to be default in upcoming releases."