Project Valhalla introduces value types into the Java language and virtual machine. Value types can be more efficient since they do not need pointer indirection and heap allocation. Moreover, Valhalla will lead to a more regular object model, unifying primitive types and their boxed types, and to simpler parameterized types. In this presentation, you will learn about the present state of the project so that you can evaluate its impact on your Java workloads.

Talk Level:
BEGINNER

Bio:
I grew up in Northern Germany and attended the Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, a harbor town at the Baltic sea. I received a M.S. in computer science from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. I taught computer science at San Jose State University for almost thirty years and held visiting appointments at universities in Germany, Switzerland, Vietnam, and Macau. I was a “serial entrepreneur” before that was a thing, including a stint as VP and CTO of a dot com startup that went from three people in a tiny office to a public company. In my copious spare time I write books and develop online courses for beginning and professional programmers.