Java Versions, Features and History
Last modified on September 7th, 2014 by Joe.
This article gives you a highlight of important features added in every major Java release. Check this article to know about Java history, I am sure you will find it interesting.
Java SE 8
Java 8 was released on 18 March 2014. The code name culture is dropped with Java 8 and so no official code name going forward from Java 8.
New features in Java SE 8
- Lambda Expressions
- Pipelines and Streams
- Date and Time API
- Default Methods
- Type Annotations
- Nashhorn JavaScript Engine
- Concurrent Accumulators
- Parallel operations
- PermGen Error Removed
- TLS SNI
Java Version SE 7
Code named Dolphin and released on July 28, 2011.
New features in Java SE 7
- Strings in switch Statement
- Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation
- Multiple Exception Handling
- Support for Dynamic Languages
- Try with Resources
- Java nio Package
- Binary Literals, underscore in literals
- Diamond Syntax
- Automatic null Handling
Java Version SE 6
Code named Mustang and released on December 11, 2006.
New features in Java SE 6
- Scripting Language Support
- JDBC 4.0 API
- Java Compiler API
- Pluggable Annotations
- Native PKI, Java GSS, Kerberos and LDAP support.
- Integrated Web Services.
- Lot more enhancements.
J2SE Version 5.0
Code named Tiger and released on September 30, 2004.
New features in J2SE 5.0
- Generics
- Enhanced for Loop
- Autoboxing/Unboxing
- Typesafe Enums
- Varargs
- Static Import
- Metadata (Annotations)
- Instrumentation
J2SE Version 1.4
Code named Merlin and released on February 6, 2002 (first release under JCP).
New features in J2SE 1.4
- XML Processing
- Java Print Service
- Logging API
- Java Web Start
- JDBC 3.0 API
- Assertions
- Preferences API
- Chained Exception
- IPv6 Support
- Regular Expressions
- Image I/O API
J2SE Version 1.3
Code named Kestrel and released on May 8, 2000.
New features in J2SE 1.3
- Java Sound
- Jar Indexing
- A huge list of enhancements in almost all the java area.
J2SE Version 1.2
Code named Playground and released on December 8, 1998.
New features in J2SE 1.2
- Collections framework.
- Java String memory map for constants.
- Just In Time (JIT) compiler.
- Jar Signer for signing Java ARchive (JAR) files.
- Policy Tool for granting access to system resources.
- Java Foundation Classes (JFC) which consists of Swing 1.0, Drag and Drop, and Java 2D class libraries.
- Java Plug-in
- Scrollable result sets, BLOB, CLOB, batch update, user-defined types in JDBC.
- Audio support in Applets.
JDK Version 1.1
Released on February 19, 1997
New features in JDK 1.1
- JDBC (Java Database Connectivity)
- Inner Classes
- Java Beans
- RMI (Remote Method Invocation)
- Reflection (introspection only)
JDK Version 1.0
Codenamed Oak and released on January 23, 1996.
Wishing you a happy new year!
Since
2008
Good post! Its pretty neat for a quick recap of which feature showed up in which release :)
I didn’t quite catch a few of the feature.
Whats Automatic Null Handling in Java 7? Do you mean the Elvis operator? It was proposed as part of project coins, but wasn’t implemented in Java 7.
Also whats the difference between Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation and Diamond Syntax?
java nio package is there from J2SE 1.4 on-wards. What’s new about nio in J2SE 1.7
Very Nice Post!!
Thanks
It is really a nice look-up information page. Lot of features of java6 and Java7 was not known to me due to your share now I know. I am user of Java6. Thanks.
nice share ..
Java SE 7 referens implementation is not Sun/Oracles any more, it’s OpenJDK. I guess that might be important em enough to be in this list. Oracle has changed the license so it can’t be redistributed in binary form by others any more. That is why Sun JDK will be removed from all distributions in the future.
Use OpenJDK instead.
thanks a lot nicely explained with images
Hi Thanks for your valuable info.
+1
Never knew the codenames. Now I will not forget.
nice explanation
you explain so nicely if possible please teach the java language in detail
very nice sir , and i want know about the details of the arrays so could me the explanation in that.
@Sarath refer the following link for array:
arrays
Its very nice.
if u can add more information then that will be more good
Ahoy there Java captains!! Good oh and wonderful news for the Javas out there to be approaching the 7. The best release is the Java 8 which comes from Chian Guk province. It has the support for juice and multi facet persistence with bean promolgation.
Its very nice….
Hi joe,
You told that In jdk1.7 the null will be handled automatically. But when I tried, Its showing exception..
Could you please explain .? Thanks in advance!!!
public class nullpointerex {
public static void main(String args[]) {
String a;
System.out.println(a.charAt(1));
}
}
}
thanks joe………
Thanks Joe….
I was just curious about the naming for each release. Is this really random, or is there a method to this “random naming”
This is excellent stuff..You have provided information with good examples. Thanks :-)
Thank you very much sir….for providing useful information…. it is very useful for every one….This blog very very help ful to me.
thank you joe.
each paper is very usefull.
very useful content for all & also nice look.
Hi Joe,information in your blog is very useful to all java developers perticularly for me.I want to know about JNDI indetail.could u please give the information and material if you have about JNDI.
thanks in advance.
Joe nice post.
Thanx:-) Nice Post
good info toALL. thnx
your site is very helpful to the students…its so nice and very user friendly..
so much of thanks to u..
i have a small doubt..
wat r the access modifiers in java..?
and plz tell me wat r the access specifiers in java?
@Asha,
for access modifiers try this
very good information joe !!!
[…] many times have we used it till now? It is one of the most number of times compiled statement in the history of java. We fondly call it […]
thanks to you this is helpfull to me
This is the first time i am reading out ur blog . if I feel any problem regarding java I would like to ask u.Thanks ! vinit saxena Kanpur
[…] from JDK itself, in util package we have Timer and TimerTask and these were available from JDK 1.3 It is a no-nonsense, sleek and simple to use api. Comparison between this utility and Quartz would […]
very interesting to see the information along with pictures
[…] Javadoc facility gives option for understanding the code in an external way, instead of opening the code the javadoc document can be used separately. IDE benefits using this javadoc as it is able to render information about the code as we develop. Annotations were introduced in JDK 1.5 […]
Nice diffrence between all jdk version
nice post…
Very nice post of features on each version in JAVA.
this is bullshit
Informative and clear.
Thanks Joe
its very good and very usefull this information…. for all java people
i never seen explanation for java with diagrams
thank you joe…
its really nice. Easy to learn in short time
nice post…
Its a wonderful thought for quick ref. Kudos Joe.
very usefull content….thanks.
Nice Blog Joe…. Thanks a lot…
Regards
Ananda.K
Nice Blog Joe…. Thanks a lot…
Regards
Ananda.K
Really great blog.Keep it up the good work so that it can helpful for newbies like me to keep updated with the Java :)
Hi Joe,
Great article. However, I have a suggestion. Can you create links to the features and explain them bit in detail with a code example. That should really help the readers than again ‘google’ out those features again somewhere else.
Thanks Joe for the clearly segregated and well presented content.
Quick Information on Java Versions.
Really Nice
Yeah it’s Really nice revision about History not only this topic other topics are also explained neatly.
Thanks for this blog…
very easy to understand
[…] Since JDK 1.5 we have got a class java.lang.ProcessBuilder which is used to create OS processes. This API is available from JDK 1.5 but key features like redirect are added in JDK 1.7. We can use this ProcessBuilder to get current thread’s environment variables as below […]
hi joe
easily understandable your content
hi joe
this is very important in my or all
person who related to it field
thanks……
mayur
hi joe
really very good
thanks…..
very easy java language but not understanding collage student
cerfuly you start good action
I request you to explain the JavaSE7 features with examples. It would be better to understand.
Its really good and easy to remember the codes..
simply superb.
Hi Thanks for your valuable info.
Thanksss..for sharinggg..!!
You are super Joe.
Extremely happy on your explanation…
Please confirm feature “Automatic null Handling”
is added in Java 7 or not. I tried with some of the examples which are throwing exceptions. Thanks
thanks,
Its very gud explanation, it would be better for freshers like me if you can provide with some examples for each as links.
nice post..
yes examples are needed for better understanding
how to increase heap size in java?
Thanks sir. good explanation with pic .
But sir u should also put some example
Nice Man….ur blog always give a clearer picture…..wishes 2 u and ur conviction
thanks sir, giving this information but i do the project in this semister .tell me detail information of J2ME.
superbbbbbb,,,
Thanks,,
very helpful information…
can u please send some example based on new feature in java7.
Nice blog, thanks Joe.
can u please send some example based on new feature in java 6 and java 7.
really grt attempt …..nice collection and nice work
simply awsum…thanx
simply awsum….thanx
Short and informative post on Java versions.Would really impress the interviewer if your are lucky to have this question and you are gone through this blog just before it.:P
Thanks very much….
This blog is so useful…
Thanks ,I Got answer.
This blogs is useful..
Automatic null Handling with ? is proposed in project coin but not implemented, due to some considerations like it may be overused.
It is available in some other languages like groovy.
it is very nice as well as cool…
I am retuning to Java after a long back and was wondering if I can find difference between java 1.2 and 1.7 :-) I was skeptical if I can find the answer but your blog really helped with this. Kudos for anticipating the need for addressing this need! Many thanks!!
[…] underlying collection. Initially Java had Enumeration to iterate through the collections and from Java version 1.2 Iterator took its place. Java Iterator is a nice implementation of iterator design pattern allowing […]
superbbbbbbbb…..nice man mr.joe……ur blog gives
clear cut information for us…….really now only i known about the code names ……..great work.thanks…….
Great Job
very Informative.
Thanks..
you give with example more useful
hi thanks
this blogs is useful
I truely appriciate for your valuable information.
Very clearly explaide with figure and date aslo .
It’s very exiting with this site information .
Thanks a lot Sir. Keep it update and develope the site .
Hi, Very use full resource,
Thank you verymuch
I think you forgot Stringbuffer feature to ad into java 1.5 version
Sorry not stringbuffer….Stringbulder is correct..
thank for giving good information
Thank’s
that help me for study
[…] the release of JDK 1.5, covariant types were introduced in Java. Following example source code illustrates the covariant […]
Really good one…..
great article,
very short but excellence post
Nice post, Nice Explanation
Hi joe
Thanks for your post!
I think Automatic Null handling is not supported and hence please remove from the list as it is misleading withjava 7 features.
Hi Joe
Just want to know that “Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation” features is same as “Diamond Syntax”? if different can you please explain what is meant by “Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation”
Hi Joe, I appreciate your efforts. I always refer your blog to refer anything in java. This is very useful for me to know the updates of java. In another one month the java 8 will be released. So i am expecting the update of java 8 too.
Thanks for the information and keep going
[…] These are the two options that are alive and maintained as of now and promises support for latest versions of Java. […]
[…] part three of exception handling tutorial, we will see about try-with-resources (ARM) introduced in Java version […]
Sir,
Thanks for your updates, please also share java 8 new features and also request you to add examples of each features or atleast for important features. Eagerly waiting for updates.
Thanks.
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the articles. I refer to your blogs all the time. Just wanted to confirm with you if Java Web Start was a feature in J2SE 1.4 or Java 5.
Thanks,
Anjana
The JAVA webstart had its inception from 1.4
Regards,
Ronald