Java version history: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 16:49, 18 January 2007

Revision as of 19:59, 18 January 2007

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(Originally numbered 1.5, which is still used as the internal version number. [http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.0/docs/relnotes/version-5.0.html]) Developed under [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=176 JSR 176], Tiger added a number of significant new language features: [http://www.sun.com/smi/Press/sunflash/2004-09/sunflash.20040930.1.html press release] [http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5/docs/relnotes/features.html full list of changes]

* [[Generic programming|Generics]] — provides compile-time (static) [[type safety]] for collections and eliminates the need for most [[typecasting (programming)|typecasts]]. (Specified by [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=14 JSR 14].)

* [[Metadata (computing)|Metadata]] — also called [[Java annotation|annotation]]s, 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 [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=175 JSR 175].)

* [[Autoboxing]]/unboxing &mdash; automatic conversions between [[primitive type]]s (such as <code>int</code>) and [[primitive wrapper class]]es (such as {{Javadoc:SE|java/lang|Integer}}). (Specified by [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=201 JSR 201].)

* [[Enumeration (programming)|Enumerations]] &mdash; the <code>enum</code> keyword creates a [[type safety|typesafe]], ordered list of values (such as <code>Day.MONDAY</code>, <code>Day.TUESDAY</code>, etc.). Previously this could only be achieved by non-typesafe constant integers or manually constructed classes (typesafe enum pattern). (Specified by [http://www.jcp.org/en/jsr/detail?id=201 JSR 201].)