Java Development Kit (JDK) 13 is beginning to take shape, and the first beta builds are available. Its production release is planned for September 2019.
Two capabilities anticipated for JDK 13 have been cited by Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group at Oracle:
- Raw string literals, which can span multiple lines of source code and do not interpret escape sequences. This capability had been cut from JDK 12, which is due in March 2019. The plan is to offer raw string literals only as an opt-in beta in JDK 13. Its goal is to make development easier n Java by, for example, letting developersexpress sequences of characters in a readable form free of Java indicators, or supply strings targeted for grammars other than Java. Following the expected test run in JDK 13, raw string literals could be made production-qiality in the subsequent JDK 14 release.
- A production version of switch expressions, for which JDK will offer a beta implementation. The
switchstatement will be extended for use as either a statement or an expression, so both could use either a “traditional” or “simplified” scoping and control flow behavior.
Where to download beta JDK 13 builds
You can download the JDK 13 builds from the jdk.java.net website. The first JDK 13 beta builds are available for Linux, MacOS, and Windows, but they don’t yet contain any new features.
