The evolution of java

 

Evolution of JAVA

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history

 

J2SE 1.4 (Merlin, February 6, 2002)

Codename Merlin . This was the first release of the Java platform developed under the Java Community Process as JSR 59 . Major changes included:[6] [7]

• assert keyword (Specified in JSR 41 .)

• regular expressions modeled after Perl regular expressions

• exception chaining allows an exception to encapsulate original lower-level exception

• Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6 ) support

• non-blocking NIO (New Input/Output ) (Specified in JSR 51 .)

• logging API (Specified in JSR 47 .)

• image I/O API for reading and writing images in formats like JPEG and PNG

• integrated XML parser and XSLT processor (JAXP ) (Specified in JSR 5 and JSR 63 .)

• integrated security and cryptography extensions (JCE, JSSE , JAAS )

• Java Web Start included (Java Web Start was first released in March, 2001 for J2SE 1.3) (Specified in JSR 56 .)

J2SE 5.0 (Tiger, September 30, 2004)

• Generics : Provides compile-time (static) type safety for collections and eliminates the need for most typecasts (type conversion) . (Specified by JSR 14 .)

• Metadata : Also called annotations ; allows language constructs such as classes and methods to be tagged with additional data, which can then be processed by metadata-aware utilities. (Specified by JSR 175 .)

• Autoboxing /unboxing: Automatic conversions between primitive types (such as int ) and primitive wrapper classes (such as Integer ). (Specified by JSR 201 .)

• Enumerations : The enum keyword creates a typesafe , ordered list of values (such as Day.MONDAY , Day.TUESDAY , etc.). Previously this could only be achieved by non-typesafe constant integers or manually constructed classes (typesafe enum pattern). (Specified by JSR 201 .)

• Swing : New skinnable look and feel , called synth .

• Varargs : The last parameter of a method can now be declared using a type name followed by three dots (e.g. void drawtext(String... lines) ). In the calling code any number of parameters of that type can be used and they are then placed in an array to be passed to the method, or alternatively the calling code can pass an array of that type.

• Enhanced for each loop: The for loop syntax is extended with special syntax for iterating over each member of either an array or any Iterable , such as the standard Collection classes, using a construct of the form:

• Fix the previously broken semantics of the Java Memory Model , which defines how threads interact through memory.

• Automatic stub generation for RMI objects.

• static imports

• Java 5 is the last release of Java to officially support the Microsoft Windows 9x line (Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME). [1] Unofficially, Java SE 6 Update 7 (1.6.0.7) is the last version of Java to be shown working on this family of operating systems. [2]

• The concurrency utilities in package java.util.concurrent .[12]

• Scanner class for parsing data from various input streams and buffers.

Java SE 6 (Mustang, December 11, 2006)

Major changes included in this version:[15] [16]

• Support for older Win9x versions dropped. Unofficially Java 6 Update 7 is the last release of Java shown to work on these versions of Windows. This is believed to be due to the major changes in Update 10.

• Scripting Language Support (JSR 223 ): Generic API for tight integration with scripting languages, and built-in Mozilla JavaScript Rhino integration

• Dramatic performance improvements for the core platform[17] [18] , and Swing .

• Improved Web Service support through JAX-WS (JSR 224 )

• JDBC 4.0 support (JSR 221 ).

• Java Compiler API (JSR 199 ): an API allowing a Java program to select and invoke a Java Compiler programmatically.

• Upgrade of JAXB to version 2.0: Including integration of a StAX parser.

• Support for pluggable annotations (JSR 269 )[19]

• Many GUI improvements, such as integration of SwingWorker in the API, table sorting and filtering, and true Swing double-buffering (eliminating the gray-area effect).

• JVM improvements include: synchronization and compiler performance optimizations, new algorithms and upgrades to existing garbage collection algorithms , and application start-up performance.[20]

Java SE 7.0 (Dolphin)

Java 7 (codename Dolphin [40] ) is an upcoming major update to Java.[41] . The Dolphin Project began in August 2006 and is tentatively scheduled for release in late 2010. The development period is organized into ten milestones; as of April of 2010, milestone 7 is in progress. [42] [43] Multiple builds, which generally include enhancements and bug fixes, are released per milestone. The Feature list at the Open JDK 7 project lists many of the expected feature changes.

The expected feature additions for Java 7[44] are:

• Replacement of the existing concurrent low-pause garbage collector (also called CMS or Concurrent Mark-Sweep collector) with the G1 garbage collector, which should enhance performance[45]

• JVM support for dynamic languages , following the prototyping work currently done on the Multi Language Virtual Machine

• A new library for parallel computing on Multi-core processors[46]

• Modularization of the JDK under Project Jigsaw[47]

• Compressed 64-bit pointers.[48]

• Extended support for Java Annotations under JSR 308[49]

• Language-level support for lambda expressions (officially, lambda expressions; unofficially, closures ) under Project Lambda[50] . There was an ongoing debate in the Java community on whether to add support for lambda expressions.[51] [52] Sun later declared that lambda expressions would be included in Java 7 and asked for community input to refine the feature.[53]

• Language changes under Project Coin [54] [55] The features accepted for inclusion in Project Coin are:

• Strings in switch [3]
• Automatic resource management [4]
• Improved Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation [5]
• Simplified Varargs Method Invocation [6]
• Better integral literals allowing for underscores as digit separators
• Language-level support for Collections [56]

• Concurrency utilities under JSR 166[57]

• New file I/O library to enhance platform independence and add support for metadata and symbolic links. The new packages are java.nio.file and java.nio.file.attribute [58] [59]

• Library-level support for Elliptic curve cryptography algorithms

• An XRender pipeline for Java 2D, which improves handling of features specific to modern GPUs

• New platform APIs for the graphics features originally planned for release in Java version 6u10

• Enhanced library-level support for new network protocols, including SCTP and Sockets Direct Protocol

• upstream updates to XML and Unicode