Enhancing Productivity and Insight: A Tour of JDK Tools Progress Beyond Java 17 by Mihalceanu

JDK tools have seen significant updates and improvements since Java 17, particularly in areas of documentation, security, and development tools

Javadoc now supports Markdown in documentation comments, making API documentation easier to write and maintain. This includes support for code highlighting and better readability

A new compiler warning was added in JDK 21 for “vis escape” scenarios, warning developers when subclasses may override methods called in superclass constructors

JWebServer was introduced as a lightweight development tool for serving static files and testing, supporting HTTP 1.1 and GET requests

GFR (JDK Flight Recorder) received new commands including:

• GFR view for displaying aggregated event data
• GFR scrub for filtering sensitive data
• Enhanced flame graph visualization

JShell improvements include:

• Better tooling integration
• New script management capabilities
• Enhanced version reporting

JPackage has been updated to better handle self-contained application distribution across different operating systems

Security tools received updates to handle weakened algorithms and provide better version reporting options

The Java launcher became smarter with improved handling of multiple source files and better module support

JDK Mission Control got significant updates in version 9 with improved visualization and data analysis capabilities