# Java 16 Feature : Records

#  Introduction

#### On march 16th, 2021 oracle release JDK 16 with new features . Highlights of the latest upgrade of standard Java include **primitive classes, sealed classes, records, a vector API, and ports for Windows on ARM64** and **Alpine Linux**. 


![features_in_java16.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1617560692159/7HlB5F6OO.png)

#### But Record features is definitely more powerful features in JDK 16. so let's deep drive into Java Records.

## what are Records?


> 
first introduced as a preview feature in Java 14 and again in Java 15, Records provide a compact syntax for declaring classes which are transparent holders for shallowly immutable data. This will significantly reduce the verbosity of these classes and improve code readability and maintainability.

### purpose
###### Commonly, we write classes to simply hold data, such as database results, query results, or information from a service. For example, we can create a simple Person data class, with a name and an address:

```
public class Person {

    private final String name;
    private final String address;

    public Person(String name, String address) {
        this.name = name;
        this.address = address;
    }

    @Override
    public int hashCode() {
        return Objects.hash(name, address);
    }

    @Override
    public boolean equals(Object obj) {
        if (this == obj) {
            return true;
        } else if (!(obj instanceof Person)) {
            return false;
        } else {
            Person other = (Person) obj;
            return Objects.equals(name, other.name)
              && Objects.equals(address, other.address);
        }
    }

    @Override
    public String toString() {
        return "Person [name=" + name + ", address=" + address + "]";
    }

    // standard getters
}
```


> Properly writing such a data-carrier class involves a lot of boilerplate, low-value, repetitive, error-prone code: constructors, accessors, equals, hashCode, toString, etc.

#### As of JDK 16, we can replace our repetitious data classes with records. Records are immutable data classes that require only the type and name of fields.


```
public record Person(String name, String address) {}
```

> 
equals, hashCode, and toString methods, as well as the private, final fields, and public constructor, are generated by the Java compiler.

### Conclusion
##### In this blog we learned how Java Records reduce boilerplate code and improve the reliability of our immutable classes.


![s960_thank_you_sticky_note.jpg](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1617563965889/ASzskPa2Z.jpeg)