Incorporate new language features (Java 17) #85
Description
Is your feature request related to a problem? Please describe.
Right now there are constructs and patterns in the code which can be solved more elegantly and concise with Java 17 language features. An overview can be found here: https://sonarcloud.io/project/issues?issueStatuses=OPEN%2CCONFIRMED&tags=java14,java15,java16,java17&id=operaton_operaton
Describe the solution you'd like
We should identify code which can be improved by the new features and commit some changes, one after another.
This is a good issue for people to get started with their contributions. Pull Requests would ideally only consider one module at the time, to keep the changes small enough for reviews