Yeah, I know, and I have started using those, though that doesn't undo the last 15 years of Java code that I've written where that wasn't really an option.
Still, good to see Java joining the 21st century at least.
> that doesn't undo the last 15 years of Java code that I've written where that wasn't really an option.
Same for C# with this new feature. Sum types (as I like to call tagged/type unions) are such an important tool to have, not having it makes languages resort to all kinds of abominations, e.g. exceptions, product types (= records, structs, etc) that are actually sum types, "null to signify something went wrong", etc.
Not having them from a language's start results in an std lib that does not use them and hence teaches new comer to the language a bad way to do it.
Still, good to see Java joining the 21st century at least.