J2SE 1.5…Um, 5.0
Ok, what was going to be Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition version 1.5 is now going to be Standard Edition version 5.0. I didn’t like Sun’s way of naming the versions of their products before, and I don’t like it now.
Everything is still Java version 2 and I think it’d be hard to do a third version since the 2 (J2SE, J2EE) has become very much a part of the brand names. Obviously, the 2 doesn’t have much of a meaning anymore. So, when what everyone expected to be J2SE 1.5 is suddenly 5.0, it just adds to the mess. I wonder who came up with that idea.
Well, let’s leave that aside. Here’s a pretty good article for catching up with what’s new in 5.0 (though the page still says 1.5).
Generics and autoboxing are, in my opinion, good features. The enumerated types and static imports are good as well. I guess one can always question how those features have been implemented, and while they don’t actually bring much new, I believe they will make development faster and easier. I am looking forward to J2SE 5.0.