New candidate JEP: JEP: 502: Stable Values (Preview)

[Iris Clark]

The following JEP with scope "SE" has been moved to the Candidate state:

  JEP: 502: Stable Values (Preview)
  https://openjdk.org/jeps/502

    Summary: Introduce an API for stable values, which are objects that
    hold immutable data.  Stable values are treated as constants by the
    JVM, enabling the same performance optimizations that are enabled
    by declaring a field final.  Compared to final fields, however,
    stable values offer greater flexibility as to the timing of their
    initialization.  This is a preview API.

JEP in the Candidate state is a feature deemed worthy of consideration by
the JDK Project, but with no commitment to deliver the feature in any
particular release of the JDK Project. Later, the JEP may be moved to the
Targeted state, which indicates that the feature is expected to appear in a
specific release of the JDK Project.  For more information about states, see
the JEP Process document:

    https://openjdk.org/jeps/1

A JEP with "SE" scope that reaches the Targeted state will be listed in the
Specification of the Java SE Platform JSR which corresponds to the targeted
JDK Project release.

A dashboard that lists JEPs with "SE" scope may be found via a link on this
page:

    https://openjdk.org/projects/jdk/25/spec/

Thanks,
Iris