Summary of differences between Java versions

By Dilip Sarangi

	JSR	Language Changes	Library Changes	Platform Changes
Java 8(a.k.a 1.8)	JSR 337, what's new	lambda expressions (JSR 335, includes method handles) continuation of Project Coin (small language improvements) annotations on Java types	Improved Date and Time API
Java 7 (a.k.a 1.7)	JSR 336, features and enhancements	Project Coin (small changes) switch on Strings try-with-resources diamond operator	new abstracted file-system API (NIO.2) (with support for virtual filesystems) improved concurrency libraries elliptic curve encryption more incremental upgrades	Support for dynamic languages
Java 6  (a.k.a 1.6)	JSR 270. features and enhancements	Mostly incremental improvements to existing libraries, no new language features (except for the @Override snafu).
Java 5 (a.k.a 1.5)	JSR 176, features and enhancements	generics (that's the big one) annotations enum types varargs enhanced for loops (for-each)	concurrency utilities in java.util.concurrent
Java 1.4	JSR 59	the assert keyword	regular expressions support NIO integrated XML handling
Java 1.3		Mostly minor improvements, really.		HotSpot JVM: improvement over the original JIT
Java 1.2		the strictfp keyword	a unified collections system Swing as a new UI-System on top of AWT	a real JIT, greatly improving speed
Java 1.1		inner classes	AWT event changes JDBC RMI reflection
Java 1.0		Initial release, everything is new