Here’s a few interesting points I picked out from JAVAWUG BOF 54 The Future of the Java SE Platform and Beyond….
- JDK 7 is packed full of goodies, but they might not be in Java SE so don’t get your hopes up
- Loads of little changes coming with SE 7 e.g. String switches, Multi-type exception catching
- JDK will be much more modular (project Jigsaw): this will lead to smaller downloads, different subsets of the JDK
- Closures are already here! Anonymous inner types have provided this functionality since ’97
- Closures are coming! Real closures without all the boiler plate, function types etc.. may/may not be in SE 7, but they’re coming. There will be a common lower level representation of closures to allow exchange of closures between JVM languages.
- Easy multi-core development features will come around eventually, even though they’re already 10 years late.
- JCP transparency will improve to enhance participation in the community and improve decision making.
- No appropriate forum for JVM language implementers; currently there is too much disparity in approach
- Don’t scare off the ‘cool crowd’ (Ruby, Python etc..) with too much conservatism vs. don’t break what is already a success by blindly adding features.
- Don’t experiment with Java instead harness what is being learnt by other JVM languages and pull in the best bits.
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