An airhacks.fm conversation with Paul Sandoz (@paulsandoz) about:

Project Valhalla's origins and goals,

value types vs reference types,

heap and stack flattening optimizations,

Value objects and data transfer objects,

nullability constraints,

enums and values,

implicit constructability,

potential performance gains,

challenges in retrofitting value types into Java,

implications for numeric types and operator overloading,

connections to Vector API and Project Panama,

impact on JVM languages like Scala,

timeline and development process for Project Valhalla,

potential for improving Java's competitiveness in areas like machine learning,

challenges in growing the Java language in an extensible way,

considerations around backwards compatibility,

Paul Sandoz's role in the project and future directions for Java