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New Java Language Features

coming in JDK1.5
Simon Ritter
Technology Evangelist
simon.ritter@sun.com
Java Language further Changes
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 JDK 1.0
 Initial language, very popular
 JDK1.1
 Inner classes, new event model
 JDK 1.4
 Assertions (minor change)
 JDK 1.5
 Biggest changes to language since release
Java 2 Standard further Edition 1.5
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 Seven major new features

 Generics
 Enhanced for loop (“foreach”)
 Autoboxing/Unboxing
 Type-safe enumerations
 Varargs
 Static import
 Metadata
 ALL PENDING JSR EXPERT GROUP
CONFIRMATION
Generics
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 Problem: Collection element types

 Cannot be checked at compile time
 Assignment must use cast
 Can cause runtime errors
( ClassCastException)
 Solution:
 Tell the compiler what type your collection is
 Compiler can fill in casts for you
 Guaranteed to succeed *
* As long as all code is generic
Generics Example
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 Old code
List l = new LinkedList();
l.add(new Integer(0));
Integer i = (Integer)l.iterator.next();

 New code
List<Integer> l = new LinkedList<Integer>();
l.add(new Integer(0));
Integer i = l.iterator.next();
Generics
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 Generics are NOT templates

 No code size increase
 No hideous complexity
 No “template metaprogramming”
Enhanced for further
Loop (foreach)
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 Problem:
 Iterating over collections is tricky
 Often, iterator only used to get an element
 Iterator is error prone (Occurs three times
in a for loop)
 Can produce subtle runtime errors
 Solution: Let the compiler do it
 New for loop syntax
for (variable : collection)
Enhanced forfurther
loop example
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 Old code
void cancelAll(Collection c) {
for (Iterator i = c.iterator(); i.hasNext(); ) {
TimerTask task = (TimerTask)i.next();
task.cancel(); } }

 New Code
void cancelAll(Collection<TimerTask> c) {
for (TimerTask task : c)
task.cancel();
}

 Also works for arrays

Auto-boxing offurther
primitive types
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 Problem:
 Conversion between primitive types and
wrapper objects (and vice-versa)
 Needed when adding primitives to a
collection
 Solution: Let the compiler do it
Integer intObj = 22; // Boxing conversion
int i = (int)intObj // Unboxing conversion

ArrayList al = new ArrayList();

al.add(22); // Boxing conversion
Typesafe Enumerations
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 Problem:
 Variable needs to hold limited set of values
 e.g. Card suit can only be Spade, Diamond, Club, Heart
 Solution: New type of class declaration
 enum type has public, self-typed members for
each enum constant
 new keyword, enum
 works with switch statement
Enumeration Example
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public enum Suit { spade, diamond, club, heart } ;

public enum Value { ace, two, three, four, five,
six, seven, eight, nine, ten,
jack, queen, king } ;

List<card> deck = new ArrayList<card>();

for (Suit suit : Suit.VALUES)

for (Value value : Value.VALUES)
deck.add(new Card(suit, value);

Collections.shuffle(deck);

Think how much JDK1.4 code this would require!

Enumeration Examples
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public enum Coin {

penny(1), nickel(5), dime(10), quarter(25);

Coin(int value) { this.value = value; }

private final int value;
public int value() { return value; }
}
Varargs
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 Problem:
 To have a method that takes a variable number
of parameters
 Can be done with an array, but not nice
 Look at java.text.MessageFormat
 Solution: Let the compiler do it for you
 New syntax:
public static String format(String fmt,
Object... args);
 Java gets printf !!!
Static imports
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 Problem:
 Having to fully qualify every static
referenced from external classes
 Solution: New import syntax
 import static TypeName . Identifier ;
 import static Typename . * ;
 Also works for static methods and enums
e.g Math.sin(x) becomes sin(x)
Metadata
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 Problem:
 Some APIs require lots of standard code
 How to indicate this to a tool
 Solution: Annotated source code
e.g.
@remote getPrice(Product p)
Concurrency Utilities
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 Goal: Beat C performance in high end

server side applications
 New framework for locks to provide greater
flexibility over synchronized
 No more threads, use Executors
 Use anExecutor.execute(aRunnable)
 Not new Thread(aRunnable).start();
 Runnable and Callable
 Callable for things that return values and/or
exceptions
Performance Improvements
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 Goals
 25% improvement in startup time over 1.4.0
 Asynchronous I/O
 Unsynchronized StringBuffer class
 Non-blocking equivalents of SSLSocket and
SSLServerSocket
 Reduce memory footprint of JVM
 Improve classloader speed
 Add concurrency library to Java core
Remember!
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All features of JDK1.5 just

described are subject to
change before release.

Release provisionally planned for Summer 2004,

beta version at end of 2003
Further information
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 www.jcp.org
 JSR-059 J2SE 1.4 Feature definition

 JSR-014 Generics
 JSR-133 Revised memory model
 JSR-166 Concurrency utilities
 JSR-175 Metadata facility
 JSR-201 Enums, Autoboxing, For loop,
Static import
 java.sun.com/j2se
 Sun™
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Simon Ritter
Technology Evangelist
simon.ritter@sun.com

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