Java Versions

JDK Versions

The various JDK versions are:

  1. JDK Alpha and Beta (1995): Sun announced Java in September 23, 1995.
  2. JDK 1.0 (January 23, 1996): Originally called Oak (named after the oak tree outside James Gosling's office). Renamed to Java 1 in JDK 1.0.2.
  3. JDK 1.1 (February 19, 1997): Introduced AWT event model, inner class, JavaBean, JDBC, and RMI.
  4. J2SE 1.2 (JDK 1.2) (December 8, 1998): Re-branded as "Java 2" and renamed JDK to J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition). Also released J2EE (Java 2 Enterprise Edition) and J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition). Included JFC (Java Foundation Classes - Swing, Accessibility API, Java 2D, Pluggable Look and Feel and Drag and Drop). Introduced Collection Framework and JIT compiler.
  5. J2SE 1.3 (JDK 1.3) (May 8, 2000): Introduced Hotspot JVM.
  6. J2SE 1.4 (JDK 1.4) (February 6, 2002): Introduced assert, non-blocking IO (nio), logging API, image IO, Java webstart, regular expression support.
  7. J2SE 5.0 (JDK 1.5) (September 30, 2004): Officially called 5.0 instead of 1.5. Introduced generics, autoboxing/unboxing, annotation, enum, varargs, for-each loop, static import.
  8. Java SE 6 (JDK 1.6) (December 11, 2006): Renamed J2SE to Java SE (Java Standard Edition).
  9. Java SE 7 (JDK 1.7) (July 28, 2011): First version after Oracle purchased Sun (called Oracle JDK).
  10. Java SE 8 (JDK 1.8) (March 18, 2014): included support for Lambda expressions, default and static methods in interfaces, improved collection, and JavaScript runtime. Also integrated JavaFX graphics subsystem.
  11. Java SE 9 (JDK 9) (September 21, 2017): introduced modularization of the JDK (module) under project Jigsaw, the Java Shell (jshell), and more.
  12. Java SE 10 (18.3) (JDK 10) (March, 2018): introduced var for type inference local variable (similar to JavaScript). There will be 2 releases each year, in March and September, denoted as yy.m.
  13. Java SE 11 (18.9 LTS) (JDK 11) (September, 2018): extended var to lambda expression. Standardize HTTP client in java.net.http. Support TLS 1.3. Clean up the JDK and the installation package.

Views: 631

Comment

You need to be a member of Codetown to add comments!

Join Codetown

Happy 10th year, JCertif!

Notes

Welcome to Codetown!

Codetown is a social network. It's got blogs, forums, groups, personal pages and more! You might think of Codetown as a funky camper van with lots of compartments for your stuff and a great multimedia system, too! Best of all, Codetown has room for all of your friends.

When you create a profile for yourself you get a personal page automatically. That's where you can be creative and do your own thing. People who want to get to know you will click on your name or picture and…
Continue

Created by Michael Levin Dec 18, 2008 at 6:56pm. Last updated by Michael Levin May 4, 2018.

Looking for Jobs or Staff?

Check out the Codetown Jobs group.

 

Enjoy the site? Support Codetown with your donation.



InfoQ Reading List

How Datadog Cut the Size of Its Agent Go Binaries by 77%

After the Datadog Agent grew from 428 MiB to 1.22 GiB over a period of 5 years, Datadog engineers set out to reduce its binary size. They discovered that most Go binary bloat comes from hidden dependencies, disabled linker optimizations, and subtle behaviors in the Go compiler and linker.

By Sergio De Simone

GitLab Suggests AI Can Detect Vulnerabilities But it's AI Governance that Determines Risk

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how software vulnerabilities are detected, but questions about who governs the risks AI exposes, and how those risks are acted on, are becoming increasingly urgent, according to a new blog post by GitLab.

By Craig Risi

Cloudflare Releases Experimental Next.js Alternative Built With AI Assistance

Cloudflare released vinext, an experimental Next.js reimplementation built on Vite by one engineer, with AI guidance over one week, for $1,100. Early benchmarks show 4.4x faster builds, but Cloudflare cautions it's untested at scale. Missing static pre-rendering. HN reaction skeptical, noting Vite does the heavy lifting. Already running on CIO.gov despite experimental status.

By Steef-Jan Wiggers

Netflix Automates RDS PostgreSQL to Aurora PostgreSQL Migration Across 400 Production Clusters

Netflix engineers describe an internal automation platform that migrates nearly 400 RDS PostgreSQL clusters to Aurora, reducing downtime and operational risk. The platform coordinates replication, CDC handling, controlled cutover, and rollback, while supporting service teams in a self-service migration workflow.

By Leela Kumili

Presentation: 4 Patterns of AI Native Development

Patrick Debois discusses the evolution of software engineering in the age of AI. He shares four key patterns: transitioning from producer to manager, focusing on intent over implementation through spec-driven development, moving from delivery to discovery, and managing agentic knowledge. He explains how these shifts redefine seniority, team roles, and the future of the DevOps workflow.

By Patrick Debois

© 2026   Created by Michael Levin.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service