Java 7 has been released!

Five years after Java 6, Oracle has just released Java 7!

This is the first release of Java since Oracle bought Sun Microsystems.

This new version of Java introduces a lot of new features, but some of the languages new features will be introduced in Java 8 as stated by the "Plan B".

In this version, there some great new language features, as stated by the JSR 334 :

• Strings in switch
• Binary integral literals and underscores in numeric literals
• Multi-catch and more precise rethrow
• Improved Type Inference for Generic Instance Creation (diamond)
• try-with-resources statement
• Simplified Varargs Method Invocation

We will also see the new NIO.2 API (specified by the JSR 203).

A new bytecode instruction has been added to the virtual machine, InvokeDynamic.

You can download Java SE 7 on the Oracle website.

I think it was time now for Java to have a new version with some refreshing, and it's IMO a good new version that we have now. I just hope that the next version,  Java 8, will be here in less than five years to give us the closures.