Recent Java 8 News

Java 8 developments are starting to dominate the news again. Recent posts cover extending Milestone 7 of JDK 8 to ensure its feature complete, the Date/Time API now available in Java 8, and updates to the Java Tutorials to cover some Java 8 features.

Extending JDK 8 M7

Mark Reinhold wrote in JDK 8 M6 status, and extending M7 that the "best results" of an M7 "Developer Preview Release" would be obtained if that M7 release was "feature complete." In particular, changes related to Project Lambda are best incorporated before the M7 release. Reinhold proposed slipping the M7 date, but did not estimate how long it needs to be extended because "it will take some time to determine how much of an extension is needed."

Exploring Lambdas

Speaking of lambda expressions, Dhananjay Nene's blog post Exploring Java8 Lambdas. Part 1 provides an introductory look at Java 8 lambda expressions. The post begins with links to and quotes from fairly well-known resources on lambda expressions and moves onto greater detail and syntax focus. Another relatively recent post introducing lambdas is Java 8: The First Taste of Lambdas.

Date/Time API in Java 8

In Java Time API Now In Java 8, Bienvenido David III writes:

ThreeTen, the reference implementation of JSR 310 Date and Time API, is now included in JDK 8 Early Access b75. The Java Time API for JDK 8 is under the package java.time, moving away from the javax.time package of earlier implementations. The Java Time Javadoc draft is also available.

Although Lamda is obviously the largest feature of Java 8, I think it's safe to say that many of us are excited about a new and better date/time API.

Java Tutorial Updated with Java 8 Features

Sharon Zakhour writes in Java Tutorial Updated! that "an update of the Java Tutorial has gone live" and that the new 1 March 2013 edition of the tutorial "contains early access information on some upcoming Java SE 8 features." Zakhour then highlights some of the new Java 8 features already covered in the Java Tutorials such as a page on Lambda expressions (in which lambda expressions are compared to anonymous classes). The new tutorial page When To Use Nested Classes, Local Classes, Anonymous Classes, and Lambda Expressions is interesting because it focuses on when to use these different types of constructs. Other Java 8-related tutorial enhancements include a lesson devoted to annotations and a page on type annotations. All of these changes are listed under the "What's New" section header on the main tutorials page.

Conclusion

Enthusiasm for Java 8 is likely to be renewed as we approach its release date and begin to see more posts and articles on the features it provides.