Optimizing Cloud Native Java

Performance tuning is an experimental science, but that doesn’t mean engineers should resort to guesswork and folklore to get the job done. Yet that’s often the case. With this practical book, intermediate to advanced Java technologists working with complex platforms will learn how to tune Java cloud applications for performance using a quantitative, verifiable, and repeatable approach.

In response to the ubiquity of cloud computing, this updated edition of Optimizing Cloud Native Java addresses topics that are key to high performance of Java applications in the cloud. Many resources on performance tend to focus on the theory and internals of Java virtual machines, but this book discusses the low-level technical aspects within the context of performance-tuning practicalities and examines a wide range of aspects.

With this book, you will:

• Learn how Java principles and technology make the best use of modern hardware, operating systems, and cloud stacks
• Examine the pitfalls of measuring Java performance numbers and the drawbacks of microbenchmarking
• Understand how to package, deploy, operate, and debug Java/JVM applications in modern cloud environments
• Apply emerging observability approaches to obtain deep understanding of cloud native applications
• Use Java language performance techniques including concurrent and distributed forms

Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Optimization and Performance Defined

Chapter 2. Performance Testing Methodology

Chapter 3. Overview of the JVM

Chapter 4. Understanding Garbage Collection

Chapter 5. Advanced Garbage Collection

Chapter 6. Code Execution on the JVM

Chapter 7. Hardware and Operating Systems

Chapter 8. Components of the Cloud Stack

Chapter 9. Deploying Java in the Cloud

Chapter 10. Introduction to Observability

Chapter 11. Implementing Observability in Java

Chapter 12. Profiling

Chapter 13. Concurrent Performance Techniques

Chapter 14. Distributed Systems Techniques and Patterns

Chapter 15. Modern Performance and The Future

Appendix A. Microbenchmarking

Appendix B. Performance Antipatterns Catalog

About the Authors

Ben Evans is an author, speaker, architect and educator. He is currently Principal Engineer and JVM Architect at New Relic. Previously, he was a co-founder at jClarity, a performance tooling company and before that was Chief Architect for Listed Derivatives at Deutsche Bank. Ben served for 6 years on the Java Community Process Executive Committee, helping define standards for the Java ecosystem. He is a Java Champion, 3-time JavaOne Rockstar Speaker and the Java / JVM Track Lead at InfoQ.

Ben is author of The Well-Grounded Java Developer, Java: The Legend, “Optimizing Java” and the new editions of Java in a Nutshell. He is a regular speaker and educator on topics such as the Java platform, systems architecture, security, performance and concurrency at conferences all over the world.

James Gough has worked extensively with financial systems where performance and accuracy have been essential for the correct processing of trades. He has a very pragmatic approach to building software and experience of working with hundreds of developers to help improve their understanding of performance and concurrency issues over the last few years.