Writing to a Record field in Java 14

Question

From a brief search on intro's to Records in Java 14, I see that Record fields are compiled as final instance variables. This seems to imply I can't write to Record fields.. none of the tutorials mention anything about writing to Record fields either.

Why is that? Why can't I use a Record in Java 14 like I would use a struct in C?

Thanks for any insight

Answer 1

Records provide a compact syntax for declaring classes which are transparent holders for shallowly immutable data

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The components of a record are implicitly final. This restriction embodies an immutable by default policy that is widely applicable for data aggregates .

Source

Being immutable, at least shallowly, is precisely the point. Records are designed as value types, so no, you cannot change them.