JDK 7 Features (original) (raw)

JDK 7

Summary

Features are listed in order, more or less, from lowest to highest in the overall JDK software stack.

Features that were once planned for JDK 7 but later deferred to JDK 8 or a later release are listed at the bottom of this page.

Virtual machine

JSR 292: Support for dynamically-typed languages (InvokeDynamic)

Extensions to the JVM, the Java language, and the Java SE API to support the implementation of dynamically-typed languages at performance levels near to that of the Java language itself

Milestone target: M3

Strict class-file checking

As specified in JSR 202, which was part of Java SE 6, and in the recently-approved maintenance revision of JSR 924, class files of version 51 (SE 7) or later must be verified with the typechecking verifier; the VM must not fail over to the old inferencing verifier.

Milestone target: M9

Language

JSR 334: Small language enhancements (Project Coin)

A set of small language changes intended to simplify common, day-to-day programming tasks: Strings in switch statements, try-with-resources statements, improved type inference for generic instance creation ("diamond"), simplified varargs method invocation, better integral literals, and improved exception handling (multi-catch)

Milestone target: M11

Core

Upgrade class-loader architecture

Modifications to the ClassLoader API and implementation to avoid deadlocks in non-hierarchical class-loader topologies

Milestone target: M3

Method to close a URLClassLoader

A method that frees the underlying resources, such as open files, held by a URLClassLoader

Milestone target: M2

Concurrency and collections updates (jsr166y)

A lightweight fork/join framework, flexible and reusable synchronization barriers, transfer queues, concurrent linked double-ended queues, and thread-local pseudo-random number generators

Milestone target: M5

Internationalization

Unicode 6.0

Upgrade the supported version of Unicode to 6.0

Milestone target: M11

Locale enhancement

Milestone target: M11

Separate user locale and user-interface locale

Upgrade the handling of locales to separate formatting locales from user-interface language locales

Milestone target: M11

I/O and Networking

JSR 203: More new I/O APIs for the Java platform (NIO.2)

New APIs for filesystem access, scalable asynchronous I/O operations, socket-channel binding and configuration, and multicast datagrams

Milestone target: M2

NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip/jar archives

A fully-functional and supported NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip and jar files

Milestone target: M11

SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)

An implementation-specific API for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol on Solaris

Milestone target: M3

SDP (Sockets Direct Protocol)

Implementation-specific support for reliable, high-performance network streams over Infiniband connections on Solaris and Linux

Milestone target: M3

Use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack

Upgrade the networking code to use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack, when available, in preference to the legacy Windows stack

Milestone target: M1

TLS 1.2

Add support for Transport Layer Security version 1.2 (RFC 5246)

Milestone target: M11

Security & Cryptography

Elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC)

A portable implementation of the standard Elliptic Curve Cryptographic (ECC) algorithms, so that all Java applications can use ECC out-of-the-box

Milestone target: M5

Database Connectivity

JDBC 4.1

Upgrade to JDBC 4.1 and Rowset 1.1

Milestone target: M11

Client

XRender pipeline for Java 2D

A new Java2D graphics pipeline based upon the X11 XRender extension, which provides access to much of the functionality of modern GPUs

Milestone target: M9

Create new platform APIs for 6u10 graphics features

Create new platform APIs for features originally implemented in the 6u10 release: Translucent and shaped windows, and heavyweight/lightweight component mixing

Milestone target: M3

Nimbus look-and-feel for Swing

A next-generation cross-platform look-and-feel for Swing

Milestone target: M3

Swing JLayer component

Add the SwingLabs JXLayer component decorator to the platform

Milestone target: M5

Gervill sound synthesizer

Drop the old, proprietary, encumbered sound synthesizer in favor of Gervill, a synthesizer created as a proposal for the Audio Synthesis Engine Project

Milestone target: M1

Web

Update the XML stack

Upgrade the components of the XML stack to the most recent stable versions: JAXP 1.4, JAXB 2.2a, and JAX-WS 2.2

Milestone target: M12

Management

Enhanced MBeans

Enhancements to the existing com.sun.management MBeans to report the recent CPU load of the whole system, the CPU load of the JVM process, and to send JMX notifications when GC events occur (this feature previously included an enhanced JMX Agent, but that was dropped due to lack of time)

Milestone target: M13

Deferred to JDK 8 or later

JSR 294: Language and VM support for modular programming

Enhancements to the Java language and virtual-machine specifications to support modular programming, at both compile time and run time

JSR 308: Annotations on Java types

An extension to the Java annotation syntax to permit annotations on any occurrence of a type

JSR TBD: Language support for collections

Literal expressions for immutable lists, sets, and maps, and indexing-access syntax for lists and maps

JSR TBD: Project Lambda

Lambda expressions (informally, "closures") and defender methods for the Java programming language

Modularization (Project Jigsaw)

A simple, low-level module system focused upon the goal of modularizing the JDK, and the application of that system to the JDK itself

JSR 296: Swing application framework

An API to define the basic structure of a typical Swing application, thereby eliminating lots of boilerplate code and providing a much-improved initial developer experience

Swing JDatePicker component

Add the SwingLabs JXDatePicker component to the platform

Last update: 2011/7/28 08:19 -0700