The Difference Between Java 7 and Java 8

The Difference Between Java 7 and Java 8: Programming languages are formal languages made up of sets of instructions used in computer programming to produce different kinds of output. Java 7 and Java 8 were absolutely released by Oracle Corporation that changed the world of computer programming. In this article, we will show you the difference between Java 7 and Java 8.

Java 7 and its characteristic

The launching of Java SE 7 was an assertion of Oracle’s commitment to the technology and language. It was also a big accomplishment for the tech giant’s two-year ownership of Sun Microsystems and the company that created Java programming language. The final acquisition was finalized by Oracle Corporation on Jan 27, 2010. The American technology giant also hosted a global event to celebrate the launch of Java Standard Edition 7.

However, Sun Microsystems is now a fully owned subordinate of Oracle Corporation and with the acquisition, the American tech giant owns MySQL, Solaris, and the Sun line of server, storage, and network hardware.

Java 7 was a huge accomplishment for Oracle after the acquisition and a major upgrade for Java in five years which almost took the firm to an entire new level. This new version has addressed many trends that strictly swept over the programming language.

The Java 7 release was also strong as it offers some major upgrades including major bug fixes and improved support for non-Java dynamic languages and type interference support for generic class creation.

The Major Characteristic of Java 7 include:

Upgraded class-loader architecture.
Compressed 64-bit pointers.
Multiple exception handling.

Upgraded Rowset 1.1 and JDBC 4.1.
JVM support for dynamically supported languages.
String object in switch statement.
Lastly, automatic resource management in a try statement and much more.

Java 8 and its characteristics

On the launching of Java 8 in March 2014, Lambda Expressions was the most anticipated characteristic. But Lambda Expressions was introduced. The use of this Lambda Expressions made Java to be closer to functional programming which it was not used to be.

It also introduced the lambda expression through which you can write code in a more practical style. Java 8 is useful in the iteration, filtering and extracting data. Also, method reference is a new term introduced in Java 8 to refer to the method of the functional interface. It is linked to the lambda expression.

However, each library function is new in Java 8 and it has made life easy for the developers to iterate elements quickly and easily. A new Date and Time API has been introduced in Java 8 and a new class named Optional has been included to deal with NullPointerException.

Some major characteristics that were initially planned for the Java SE 7 were featured on Java 8. Also, the lambda expression is still the biggest update to the model which tends to increase productivity in many business models.

Major characteristics of Java 8 include:

Language-level support for Lambda Expressions
Unsigned Integer Arithmetic
Interface default and Static Methods
New Date and Time API
Parallel Sorting
Concurrent API enhancements
Null Reference Template
New and improved Stream API
Removal of permanent generation
New JavaScript Engine, Nashorn