OpenJDK recently resurrected Project Detroit, an effort to ease Java's interoperability with Python and JavaScript. Interestingly, while both integrations will work through the _java.scripting_ API, there are still differences between them. On top of that, the JavaScript integration needs to explain how it related to the removal of Nashorn in JDK 16.

In this "Ask the Architect" episode of the Inside Java Podcast, recorded during JavaOne 2026, Nicolai Parlog talks to Mikael Vidsted, lead of the Java Virtual Machine team at Oracle, about Project Detroit.

Project Detroit: https://openjdk.org/projects/detroit/

JDK Enhancement Proposals are OpenJDK's vehicle for documenting and communicating substantial changes of the Java language, its APIs, and the runtime but also the JDK project itself, for example when it comes to development processes. Their well-defined structure and the immense care that goes into writing them make them eminently readable and understanding them well is essential to understanding Java's development.

In this "Ask the Architect" episode of the Inside Java Podcast, recorded during JavaOne 2026, Nicolai Parlog talks to Alex Buckley, the Guardian of the JEP process.

Java's use of memory, often chided for being excessive, is actually a strength as it trades more memory use for fewer CPU cycles. Java can only make this tradeoff due to its moving garbage collectors, something more memory efficient platforms often cannot. But what's the point in leaving available memory on the table if using it makes your program run faster? Efficient use of that resource wouldn't be to leave it untapped but to use it to speed up the program.

In this "Ask the Architect" episode of the Inside Java Podcast, recorded during JavaOne 2026, Nicolai Parlog talks to Ron Pressler, Java Architect at Oracle.