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by melling 829 days ago
“Vector API (Seventh Incubator)”

Seven iterations? What is going on with vectors in Java?

6 comments

"Vector API" is universal api for SIMD. It will probably remain in incubator until valhalla delivers value types.
Is there a timeline on Valhalla? I only loosely follow the Java ecosystem these days, but Valhalla is of particular interest to my performance-oriented mind.
I follow up on valhalla every now and then. It looks few more releases away, probably not before next LTS.

That being said, the amount of rigor with which the JDK devs test their experiments is really something to witness. Its equivalent to old school MS with painstaking maintenance at backwards compatibility, all the while moving the wheel of progress.

Every single change so far has been planned with a decade of advanced planning because that's just how this ecosystem roles.

My understanding is it depends on Valhalla (value classes) and they basically keep updating it as that project changes.
The Foreign Memory API is in the works since 2014. They are just very diligent and careful.
Yeah, given the amount of legacy infra built on Java. They don't have the luxury to move fast and break things.
They said it is waiting for some feature from project Valhalla. Not sure which one though
There are ad-hoc hacks in the JDK to avoid allocation for vectors; once we get some Valhalla features, vectors could be represented as plain value objects.
If you're interested, there already is a somewhat similar language that offers first-class support for these.
It will go on until 'value classes' are incorporated in Java