Does Java support structs?

The equivalent in Java to a struct would be

class Member
{
    public String FirstName; 
    public String LastName;  
    public int    BirthYear; 
 };

and there's nothing wrong with that in the right circumstances. Much the same as in C++ really in terms of when do you use struct verses when do you use a class with encapsulated data.


Java definitively has no structs :) But what you describe here looks like a JavaBean kind of class.


Java 14 has added support for Records, which are structured data types that are very easy to build.

You can declare a Java record like this:

public record AuditInfo(
    LocalDateTime createdOn,
    String createdBy,
    LocalDateTime updatedOn,
    String updatedBy
) {}
 
public record PostInfo(
    Long id,
    String title,
    AuditInfo auditInfo
) {}

And, the Java compiler will generate the following Java class associated to the AuditInfo Record:

public final class PostInfo
        extends java.lang.Record {
    private final java.lang.Long id;
    private final java.lang.String title;
    private final AuditInfo auditInfo;
 
    public PostInfo(
            java.lang.Long id,
            java.lang.String title,
            AuditInfo auditInfo) {
        /* compiled code */
    }
 
    public java.lang.String toString() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public final int hashCode() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public final boolean equals(java.lang.Object o) { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.lang.Long id() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.lang.String title() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public AuditInfo auditInfo() { /* compiled code */ }
}
 
public final class AuditInfo
        extends java.lang.Record {
    private final java.time.LocalDateTime createdOn;
    private final java.lang.String createdBy;
    private final java.time.LocalDateTime updatedOn;
    private final java.lang.String updatedBy;
 
    public AuditInfo(
            java.time.LocalDateTime createdOn,
            java.lang.String createdBy,
            java.time.LocalDateTime updatedOn,
            java.lang.String updatedBy) {
        /* compiled code */
    }
 
    public java.lang.String toString() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public final int hashCode() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public final boolean equals(java.lang.Object o) { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.time.LocalDateTime createdOn() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.lang.String createdBy() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.time.LocalDateTime updatedOn() { /* compiled code */ }
 
    public java.lang.String updatedBy() { /* compiled code */ }
}

Notice that the constructor, accessor methods, as well as equals, hashCode, and toString are created for you, so it's very convenient to use Java Records.

A Java Record can be created like any other Java object:

PostInfo postInfo = new PostInfo(
    1L,
    "High-Performance Java Persistence",
    new AuditInfo(
        LocalDateTime.of(2016, 11, 2, 12, 0, 0),
        "Vlad Mihalcea",
        LocalDateTime.now(),
        "Vlad Mihalcea"
    )
);

Actually a struct in C++ is a class (e.g. you can define methods there, it can be extended, it works exactly like a class), the only difference is that the default access modfiers are set to public (for classes they are set to private by default).

This is really the only difference in C++, many people don't know that. ; )


Java doesn't have an analog to C++'s structs, but you can use classes with all public members.