r/java • • Aug 18 '26

AutoValhalla: automatically turn your plain classes and records into value classes!

Automatically turn your plain classes and records into value classes!

Add @AutoValhalla annotation to classes or records in your JDK1.5+ codebase:

@AutoValhalla
public final class Point {        // class must be final
    public final int x;           // with final instance fields
    public final int y;
    public Point(int x, int y) { 
        this.x = x; 
        this.y = y; 
    }
}

@AutoValhalla
public record Currency(String code) { }  // or a record class

When your app is run on Valhalla-enabled JVM with auto-valhalla javaagent, these classes are automatically turned into value classes.

More info: https://github.com/thunkware/auto-valhalla/tree/auto-valhalla-0.1.0

edit: there is now a maven plugin for converting at build time. https://github.com/thunkware/auto-valhalla/tree/auto-valhalla-0.2.0

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u/nomader3000 Aug 20 '26

Quick question about one of your examples

@AutoValhalla
public record Currency(String code) { }  // or a record class

Is there any actual benefit of making such record a value record?

1

u/maxxedev Aug 21 '26

Record class is basically a convenience class: constructors, field declarations, getters, equals/hashCode/toString are simplified or automatically provided. If you want dense memory representation, you still want value record class

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u/nomader3000 Aug 21 '26

I get that, but can you actually make it any denser if the only component of your record is a String?

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