brettwooldridge/HikariCP ? reverse-engineered prompt

Build me a small Java library for a really fast, simple, reliable JDBC connection pool, something I can drop into a server app and use without a lot of fuss.

I want it to manage database connections efficiently, hand out connections quickly, reclaim them safely when closed, and handle common failure cases without getting stuck. Keep the API straightforward, with a clean way to configure the database URL, credentials, pool size, and a few important tuning settings. It should work well with modern Java and be suitable for production use, not just a demo.

Please include good defaults, sensible validation, logging, and tests. If you need to check current JDBC or Java best practices, look them up online. Also make sure the project builds cleanly with Maven and includes a simple example showing how to create the pool and get a connection.