JDK8 Roadmap/Timeline to Release

JDK 8 Release Timeline Information

I’ve been following both the JDK7 and then JDK8 development blogs for java for some time now as they both have large numbers of changes to the language (much like the large number of changes in JDK5 (generics, enums etc) and unlike JDK6 which was not much of a change at all). Thought that you may be interested in the following links which now give a timeline for the release of the next Java version JDK8:

http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk8/

To quote from the above source, here is the proposed milestone development schedule:

2012/04/24	- M1
2012/06/14	- M2
2012/07/30	- M3
2012/09/11	- M4
2012/11/26	- M5
2013/01/30	- M6 – Feature Complete
2013/09/??	- GA – General Availability

The expectation at the end of M6 is that all features and new test development will be complete with the exception of work on component JSRs, which will be given additional time to bake until early May 2013. Between M6 and GA the tolerance for further changes will decrease in steps, with general bug fixes admitted up until early April 2013, only P1-P3 bug fixes until mid-June 2013, and only showstopper fixes after that.

This version should have the following main changes (of which the inclusion of closures/lambda calculus functionality will IMHO be one of the biggest changes ever introduced in Java ... larger even then the introduction of generics in JDK 5):

• Project Coin – language changes...half of which were introduced in JDK7 and which you can read about on the web
• Project Jigsaw – breaking up the monolithic sized JDK into separate MODULES with dependencies (a bit like Gradle/Maven/Ivy but for Java) ... more detail/links at: http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/ and quickstart guide with examples on Mark Reinholds blog: http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jigsaw/doc/quickstart.html 
• Project Lambda – long standing effort (discussed since JDK5 and maybe even earlier) to introduce closures and related functionality into java: http://openjdk.java.net/projects/lambda , see here for one of the latest documents providing information:  http://cr.openjdk.java.net/~briangoetz/lambda/lambda-state-4.html   IMHO this will be a huge change to Java and the way programming occurs (as this pushes java towards a LISP style functional programming type language) and this is without doubt the change I (and many other developers also) are looking forward to the most.

Its still a way away yet to the release date ... but worth keeping in mind when considering updates to the SOE used by your work place (or home projects) and when to make the jump from JDK6 to JDK7/8??

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Notes: On JSR 337:

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By the way the following link also has the dates for the JDK 8 JSR 337 Spec and its various Milestones:

http://openjdk.java.net/projects/jdk8/spec/

This is the primary web page for JSR 337, the Platform Umbrella JSR for Java SE 8.

Expert Group

• Andrew Haley (Red Hat)
• Steve Poole (IBM)
• Mark Reinhold (Oracle)
• TBD (Google)

Schedule

2012/7	Expert Group formation
2012/9	Early Draft Review
2013/1	Public Review
2013/6	Proposed Final Draft
2013/8	Final Release

Mailing lists

There are two mailing lists:

• java-se-8-spec-experts is the Expert Group (EG) list. Only EG members may subscribe and post to this list, but the archives are public.
• java-se-8-spec-observers is for those who wish to monitor and, perhaps, discuss the EG's progress. Messages sent to the primary EG list are automatically forwarded to this list. Anyone may subscribe to this list, and any subscriber may post. EG members are under no obligation to follow the traffic on this list.

A formal feedback channel, most likely in the form of an issue tracker, will be set up when a draft specification is available for review.