How can you optimize code readability using record patterns and deconstruction?

A record pattern lets a switch or instanceof check destructure a record's components directly in the pattern itself, binding each component to a named variable in one step instead of matching the record and then calling its accessors separately.

flowchart LR
    A["case Point(int x, int y) when x == y ->"] --> B[Bind x and y directly from the record's components]
    B --> C[Use x and y immediately in the branch body]

record Point(int x, int y) {}
record Line(Point start, Point end) {}

static String describe(Object obj) {
    return switch (obj) {
        case Line(Point(var x1, var y1), Point(var x2, var y2)) when x1 == x2 ->
            "vertical line";
        case Line l -> "line";
        default -> "unknown";
    };
}

The readability win compounds with nesting: a nested record pattern like the Line example above expresses "a line whose two points share an x-coordinate" in a single case label, where the pre-Java-21 equivalent would need several lines of accessor calls just to get at x1 and x2.

Coding standards recommend record patterns whenever a method already receives a record and immediately needs its inner components rather than the record itself, since skipping the intermediate accessor calls removes a layer of indirection between the pattern and the logic that uses it.