The non-standard, standard Java versions

A little history....

Okay, here it goes (this is from memory, so there may be some variances)

Java - JDK

• JDK 1.0
• JDK 1.1
• JDK 1.1.1
• JDK 1.1.2
• JDK 1.1.3
• JDK 1.1.4
• JDK 1.1.5 - Java 2 spun off at this point
• JDK 1.1.6
• JDK 1.1.7
• JDK 1.1.8

Java 2 - The JDK years continue

• JDK 1.2.x The 1.2 releases, first ones with swing. Some were VERY rough

J2SE - JDK still exists, but is now called Java2 Standard Edition, because J2EE came out and they wanted to use a common naming system, but they stilled called them JDKs. The version after the "4" indicated some new functionality, with bug fix numbers after the "_"..

• JDK 1.3 thru JDK 1.3.1
  • JDK 1.3.1 had 20 bug fixes, the last version was JDK 1.3.1_20
• JDK 1.4 thru JDK 1.4.2
• These included bug fixes like JDK 1.4.1_02, where the _02 is the bug fix version
  • Final version was JDK 1.4.2_17

Java 5 (also J2SE 5.0) Rather than call it Java 2 Standard Edition, JDK 1.5, they started to call it by the minor version, They also started with the "update" notation and never incremented the third level. Generics introduced.

• JDK 1.5.0 thru JDK 1.5.0_17. You still saw a lot of Java 2 notation. Notice the bug fix versions use the "_" suffix. Toward the end they started calling it JDK 1.5 Update XX. Never saw a JDK 1.5.1.

Java 6. At this point they finally dropped the Java2 notation that had been carried along. Now it was just Java SE version 6, with updates....BUT.

• Java 6 thru Java 6 Update 9 - contained bug fixes. Still references to the old naming system (JDK 1.6) still exist.

Ah, now Java 6 update 10 came out with new Java features. In the old days it would have been labled JDK 1.6.1 with the earlier updates being JDK 1.6.0_0 thru JDK 1.6.0_9. Since they've dropped that numbering scheme, you just have to remember that Update 10 introduced new features. Why didn't they just call it Java 7? Because according to Sun, it didn't have enough "newness" to warrant being a full new version.

• Java 6 Update 10+

Some of you may see the same numbering wierdness in Solaris versions, and even Microsoft products. It seems like every few years they want to redo their "standard" numbering system and make is seem more snazzy...

Java 7. After a long run with Java 6, Oracle (the new owner of Java), released Java 7. The new version contains several basic language improvements (see https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/enhancements.html#javase7) for details. In addition several new API libraries have been added, including some new I/O libraries (once again).