The Java Tutorials have been written for JDK 8. Examples and practices described in this page don't take advantage of improvements introduced in later releases and might use technology no longer available.
See Java Language Changes for a summary of updated language features in Java SE 9 and subsequent releases.
See JDK Release Notes for information about new features, enhancements, and removed or deprecated options for all JDK releases.
A bean's methods are the things it can do. Any public method that is not part of a property definition is a bean method. When you use a bean in the context of a builder tool like NetBeans, you can use a bean's methods as part of your application. For example, you could wire a button press to call one of your bean's methods.