What is Java 7 and its features?

Java 7 (codename “Dolphin”) was the first major update to the Java programming language under the ownership and stewardship of Oracle since it acquired Sun Microsystems. The final acquisition was completed by Oracle Corporation on Jan 27, 2010. The American technology giant hosted a global event to celebrate the launch of Java Standard Edition 7. The launch of Java SE 7 was an affirmation of the Oracle’s commitment to the language and technology. It was a big achievement for the tech giant’s two-year ownership of Sun Microsystems – the company that created Java programming language.

Sun Microsystems is now a fully owned subsidiary of Oracle Corporation and with the acquisition, the American tech giant also owns MySQL, Solaris, and the Sun line of server, storage and network hardware. Java 7 was a big achievement for Oracle after the acquisition and a major upgrade for Java in five years which almost took the company to a whole new level. This new version has addresses many trends that literally swept over the programming language. The Java 7 release was solid which offers some major upgrades including major bug fixes and improved support for non-Java dynamic languages, plus type interference support for generic class creation.

Major features of Java 7 include:

• Language enhancements grouped under a Project Coin
• String object in switch statement
• Multiple exceptions handling to eliminate duplication of codes
• Upgraded class-loader architecture
• Improved type interference for generic instance
• Library support for ECC (elliptic curve cryptography) algorithms
• Upgraded Rowset 1.1 and JDBC 4.1
• Improved Managed Beans
• Automatic resource management in try-statement
• Concurrency and collections updates
• Compressed 64-bit pointers
• JVM support for dynamically-typed languages

What is Java 8 and its features?

Java SE 8 (codename “Spider”) is a revolutionary release of the development platform which brings some major tweaks and upgrades to the Java programming language including enhanced JavaScript engine, new APIs for date and time manipulation, improved and faster JVM, and more. Java SE 8 is a giant leap forward for the programming language which also brings the tech giant’s most anticipated upgrade – the lambda expressions. It’s a new language feature exclusively added in the Java 8 update and which is touted as one of the most significant upgrades to the programming language. This add-on feature ultimately brought the development platform to the forefront of functional programming.

Oracle officially released the Java Development Kit 8 on Mar 18, 2014 marking a watershed moment for the programming community around the world. With the release, the company changed the programming paradigm accommodating the all-new lambda expressions for functional programming. The Project Lambda allowed users to treat functionality as a method argument thereby creating delegates or expression tree types. Java 8 is a major shift towards how you code. The programming language moves to a more functional-specific paradigm which was a major overhaul from what Java used to accommodate.

Some major features were initially planned for the Java SE 7 but deferred afterwards. Those features finally found their right place in the Java SE 8 update marking a significant upgrade to the model. The lambda expressions are by far the biggest update to the model which is likely to increase productivity in many business models.

Major features of Java 8 include:

• Language-level support for Lambda Expressions
• Interface default and Static Methods
• Unsigned Integer Arithmetic
• Concurrent API enhancements
• New Date and Time API
• Parallel Sorting
• Null Reference Template
• New JavaScript Engine, Nashorn
• New and improved Stream API
• Removal of permanent generation

Difference between Java 7 and Java 8

1. Java SE 7 was the first and the major update to the programming language under the ownership and stewardship of Oracle Corporation after it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010. Java 8, on the other hand, was the next biggest update after Java 7 which accommodates some major features and enhancements to the Java model.
2. One of the most notable features added in the Java 7 is the JVM support for dynamically-typed languages plus small language enhancements (Project Coin). Java 8 is a major update to the programming language which introduced a significant upgrade to the functional programming called the Lambda Expressions.
3. Java 8 also gets a new and improved Date/Time API, an enhanced JavaScript engine, new streaming API. Concurrent accumulators, secure random generation, and much more. Java 7 had improved class-loader architecture, enhanced Managed Beans, multiple exceptions handling support, etc.
4. Java 7 added a language support for String in switch so users can rewrite codes more efficiently and easily. This helps users write better readable codes. The Lambda Expressions in Java 8 allow you to code local functions as method arguments.
5. Oracle stopped dispersing security updates for Java SE 7 effective April 2015, however existing downloads as remain accessible from the Java Archive. Java 8 public downloads will reportedly be stopped after Sept 2018.

Java 7 vs. Java 8: Comparison Chart to show the difference between Java 7 and Java 8

Summary of Java 7 vs. Java 8

Java SE 7 was the first major release of the programming language under Oracle’s ownership and stewardship since it acquired Sun Microsystems in 2010. Java 7 was a significant upgrade to the Java model which accommodates some major upgrades to the programming language including language enhancements, multiple exceptions handling, JVM support for dynamically-typed languages, and more. Java SE 8 is a revolutionary release of the programming language which took the model to a whole new level.  Wit Java 8, the programming language bring along its anticipated feature called the Lambda Expressions which changed the entire coding paradigm for the Java platform.

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