Java version history: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|List of versions of the Java programming language}}

{{About|the Java programming language||History of Java (disambiguation){{!}}History of Java}}

 

The [[Java (programming language)|Java language]] has undergone several changes since [[Java Development Kit|JDK]]&nbsp;1.0 as well as numerous additions of [[class (computer science)|classes]] and packages to the standard [[library (computer science)|library]]. Since J2SE&nbsp;1.4, the evolution of the Java language has been governed by the [[Java Community Process]] (JCP), which uses ''Java Specification Requests'' (JSRs) to propose and specify additions and changes to the [[Java (software platform)|Java platform]]. The language is specified by the ''Java Language Specification'' (JLS); changes to the JLS are managed under [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=901 JSR&nbsp;901]. In September 2017, Mark Reinhold, chief Architect of the Java Platform, proposed to change the release train to "one feature release every six months" rather than the then-current two-year schedule.<ref name="6monthsReinhold">{{cite web| title=Moving Java Forward Faster | last=Reinhold | first=Mark | url=https://mreinhold.org/blog/forward-faster | date=2017-09-06 | access-date=2017-09-16}}</ref><ref name="6monthsServerSide">{{cite web| title=Calling 'all aboard' on the six-month Java release train |publisher=theserverside.com | url=http://www.theserverside.com/news/450426185/Calling-all-aboard-on-the-six-month-Java-release-train | date=2017-09-12 | access-date=2017-09-16}}</ref> This proposal took effect for all following versions, and is still the current release schedule.

In addition to the language changes, other changes have been made to the [[Java Class Library]] over the years, which has grown from a few hundred classes in JDK&nbsp;1.0 to over three thousand in J2SE&nbsp;5. Entire new [[API]]s, such as [[Swing (Java)|Swing]] and [[Java2D]], have been introduced, and many of the original JDK&nbsp;1.0 classes and methods have been [[deprecation|deprecated]], and very few APIs have been removed (at least one, for threading, in Java 22<ref name="removed_API_in Java_22" />). Some programs allow the conversion of Java programs from one version of the [[Java (software platform)|Java platform]] to an older one (for example Java&nbsp;5.0 backported to 1.4) (see [[Java backporting tools]]).

 

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Java 23 was released on September 17, 2024.

 

== Release table ==

* Support for older Win9x versions dropped; unofficially, Java 6 Update 7 was the last release of Java shown to work on these versions of Windows.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} This is believed{{by whom|date=November 2011}} 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 (JavaScript engine)|Rhino]] integration.

* Improved Web Service support through [[JAX-WS]] ([[JSR 224]]).

* [[Java Database Connectivity|JDBC]] 4.0 support ([[JSR 221]]).

* [[Java virtual machine|JVM]] support for [[dynamic programming language|dynamic languages]], with the new <code>invokedynamic</code> bytecode under JSR-292,<ref name=JSR292>{{cite web|title=JSR 292: Supporting Dynamically Typed Languages on the Java Platform|url=https://jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=292|access-date=August 25, 2013}}</ref> following the prototyping work currently done on the [[Da Vinci Machine|Multi Language Virtual Machine]]

* Compressed 64-bit pointers<ref>{{cite web|title=Compressed oops in the Hotspot JVM|url=https://wikis.oracle.com/display/HotSpotInternals/CompressedOops|publisher=OpenJDK|access-date = 2012-08-01}}</ref> (available in Java 6 with <code>-XX:+UseCompressedOops</code>)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/tech/vmoptions-jsp-140102.html |title=Java HotSpot VM Options |publisher=Oracle |access-date=2013-04-11}}</ref>

:* Strings in [[switch statement|switch]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://download.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/strings-switch.html |title=Strings in switch Statements |publisher=Download.oracle.com |access-date=2013-01-15}}</ref>

:* Automatic resource management in try-statement aka ''try-with-resources statement''<ref>{{cite web|url=https://download.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/try-with-resources.html |title=The try-with-resources Statement |publisher=Download.oracle.com |access-date=2013-01-15}}</ref>

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At [[JavaOne]] 2011, Oracle discussed features they hoped to release for Java 9 in 2016.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.networkworld.com/article/938806/mark-your-calendar-java-9-finally-has-a-release-date.html | title=Mark your calendar: Java 9 finally has a release date| date=2015-05-07}}</ref> Java 9 should include better support for multi-gigabyte heaps, better native code integration, a different default [[garbage collector (computing)|garbage collector]] ([[Garbage-first collector|G1]], for "shorter response times")<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jaxenter.com/java-9s-new-garbage-collector-whats-changing-whats-staying-118313.html|title=Java 9's new garbage collector: What's changing? What's staying?|date=June 26, 2015}}</ref> and a [[self-tuning]] JVM.<ref>{{cite web

| url = https://drdobbs.com/blogs/java/231900029

 

=== Java 9 updates ===

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JEP 445, previewing unnamed classes, allows for a barebones Main class without boilerplate code:<syntaxhighlight lang="java" line="1">

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{{Anchor|Java 24}}

== Java SE 24 ==

{{Infobox Java version

| version name = Java SE 24

| released = {{Start date and age|2025|3|br=yes|paren=yes}}

| unreleased = yes

}}

 

 

{{Clear}}

 

== Future features ==