Posts (238+)

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May 2026

Switch Expressions:Return a Value Without the Break Ritual

Java 14 switch expressions (JEP 361): arrow cases, yield, exhaustiveness — return a value without fall-through breaks. Pattern switch lives in a later post.

Linux

Linux find:Locate Files by What You Know

Hands-on find recipes for everyday work — hunt by name, type, size, and time, then act on matches with confidence.

Java

HttpClient:Talk HTTP Without a Third-Party Stack

Use Java 11 java.net.http.HttpClient for HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2 — builder, sync and async send, body handlers — without Apache HttpClient or OkHttp for ordinary calls.

Java

Local-Variable Type Inference:When `var` Clarifies and When It Hides

Java 10 var (JEP 286): use local-variable type inference when the right-hand side already names the type, and skip it when var hides what the reader needs.

Java

Java Modules:What `module-info.java` Actually Buys You

What JPMS (JEP 261) actually buys: explicit exports, requires, and a smaller runtime — not a file you copy into every repo. import module is a later language convenience.

Java

CompletableFuture:Compose Async Work Without Callback Hell

Compose async Java work with CompletableFuture — supplyAsync, thenApply, thenCompose, allOf — without nested callbacks, and when virtual threads are the simpler path.

Java

java.time:Dates Without Calendar and SimpleDateFormat

Replace Calendar and SimpleDateFormat with java.time — Instant, LocalDate, ZonedDateTime, formatting, and a Clock you can fake in tests.

Linux

Linux awk:Slice Fields and Summarize Streams

Hands-on awk recipes for everyday work — pick columns, filter rows, change separators, and compute totals in pipelines.

Java

Optional:Return Absence Without Null and Without Wrapping Every Call

Use java.util.Optional to return absence without null — of/ofNullable, map/flatMap/filter, orElse vs orElseGet, and when wrapping every call is cargo-cult.

Java

Primitive Functional Interfaces:Skip the Box on the Hot Path

Use java.util.function’s primitive SAM grid to skip boxing on hot numeric paths, fill IntStream slots, and leave ToIntFunction out of ordinary application code.