Editing Java syntax (section)

{{Short description|Set of rules defining correctly structured program}}
{{See also|Java (programming language)#Syntax}}
{{More footnotes|date=January 2014}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}
{{Use American English|date=April 2025}}
[[File:Java keywords highlighted.svg|thumb|300px|A snippet of Java code with keywords highlighted in bold blue font]]

The '''syntax of Java''' is [[syntax|the set of rules]] defining how a [[Java (programming language)|Java]] program is written and interpreted.

The [[Syntax (programming languages)|syntax]] is mostly derived from [[C (programming language)|C]] and [[C++]]. Unlike C++, Java has no global functions or variables, but has data members which are also regarded as [[global variable]]s. All code belongs to [[Class (computer programming)|classes]] and all values are [[Object (computer science)|objects]]. The only exception is the [[primitive data types]], which are not considered to be objects for performance reasons (though can be automatically converted to objects and vice versa via [[#Boxing and unboxing|autoboxing]]). Some features like [[operator overloading]] or [[unsigned integer]] [[data type]]s are omitted to simplify the language and avoid possible programming mistakes.

The Java syntax has been gradually extended in the course of numerous major [[JDK]] [[Java version history|releases]], and now supports abilities such as [[generic programming]] and [[anonymous function]]s (function literals, called lambda expressions in Java). Since 2017, a new JDK version is released twice a year, with each release improving the language incrementally.