Java 7
| Status | End of Life |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 2011-07-11 |
| EOL Date | 2021-07-20 |
| Latest Version | 7u351 |
| Codename | Dolphin |
| Class File Version | 51.0 |
| Unicode Version | 6.0.0 |
| API Changes | Compare to 6 - 5 - 1.4 - 1.3 - 1.2 - 1.1 - 1.0 |
| Documentation | Release Notes, Language Spec, VM Spec, JavaDoc |
| SCM | git |
After Java 6 it took almost five years to create a new Java major release. In the meantime the original Java inventor Sun Microsystems have been acquired in 2010. Java 7 is the first release under new owner Oracle.
One of the reasons for the long delay of Java 7 was the long design and development
time for a lambda syntax for the Java language. While this feature was finally
dropped from Java 7 the required mechanics under the hood like INVOKEDYNAMIC
and method handles have been added to the Java runtime with this release.
New Features
Here are all new features in Java 7 by category. There is also of list of all features of all Java releases.
JVM
- New Opcode INVOKEDYNAMIC (JSR 292)
Language
- Switch on String (JSR 334)
- Try-with (JSR 334)
- Diamond Operator (JSR 334)
- Binary Integer Literals (JSR 334)
- Underscores in numeric literals (JSR 334)
- Multi Catch (JSR 334)
API
Downloads
| Vendor | Product | License | Platform Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azul Systems | Zulu Builds of OpenJDK 7 | GPLv2+CE | |
| IBM | IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition, Version 7 Release 1 | Commercial | |
| Oracle | Java SE Development Kit 7 | Commercial |