Java 7
| Status | End of Life |
|---|---|
| Release Date | 2011-07-11 |
| EOL Date | 2021-07-20 |
| Latest Version | 7u351 |
| Codename | Dolphin |
| Umbrella JSR | JSR 336 |
| 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 | JavaDoc, Language Spec, VM Spec, Tools, Release Notes |
| SCM | git |
| OpenJDK Updates | 2022-07-18 → 7u351 2022-04-22 → 7u341 2022-01-16 → 7u331 2021-11-19 → 7u321 2021-07-20 → 7u311 2021-02-20 → 7u301 2021-01-19 → 7u291 2020-12-18 → 7u285 2020-10-20 → 7u281 2020-07-14 → 7u271 2020-04-14 → 7u261 2020-01-14 → 7u251 2019-10-15 → 7u241 2019-07-16 → 7u231 2019-04-16 → 7u221 |
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
Should I Upgrade?
Java 7 is end-of-life since 2021-07-20. Unless you have a support contract for this version and a compelling reason to stay on the old version you should definitely upgrade to a newer version with active support.
Please consider upgrading to a current long term support LTS version Java 8, Java 11, Java 17, Java 21 or Java 25 to rely on a maintained platform and get advantage of the latest features and improvements.
Downloads
| Vendor | Product | License | Platform Downloads |
|---|---|---|---|
| Azul Systems | Zulu Builds of OpenJDK 7 | GPLv2+CE | |
| Oracle | Java SE Development Kit 7 | Commercial |