A long row of tools and libraries for the JVM rely on processing class files and Java byte code to function. With the JDK's accelerated release cycle, this has created tedious upgrade requirements, as the class file format is changing with each release.

To synchronize byte code tooling with the release cycle, the JDK is about to introduce a class file API that handles the processing, and to compete with ASM, today's de-facto class file processor.

This presentation takes a look at the JDK's class file API, compares it to ASM, and gives a perspective on how the class file API might get adopted and how it might help to overcome today's upgrade requirements in the future.