Difference Between JDK 1.7 and JDK 1.8
JDK 1.7 and JDK 1.8 are also known as Java 7 and Java 8, respectively. Below is a comparison highlighting the key differences between the two versions.
1. Stream API
- Java 7: No support for Streams or functional-style programming; loops and conditional statements are used for building APIs.
- Java 8: Introduced the Stream API, enabling a functional approach to working with collections, such as filtering, mapping, and reducing data in a declarative manner.
2. Parallel Stream
- Java 7: No native support for parallel processing in collections.
- Java 8: Introduced parallel streams, making it easy to perform parallel operations on collections.
3. Lambda Expressions
- Java 7: No support for functional programming features like lambda expressions.
- Java 8: Introduced Lambda Expressions, allowing functions to be passed as parameters to methods.
4. Default Methods in Interfaces
- Java 7: Interfaces could only have abstract methods (no implementation).
- Java 8: Interfaces can have default methods (methods with implementations).
5. Type Annotations
- Java 7: Annotations could only be applied to declarations.
- Java 8: Introduced type annotations, allowing annotations to be applied to types, improving compile-time checks.
6. Method References
- Java 7: Method references were not available.
- Java 8: Introduced method references, allowing methods to be passed as parameters concisely.
7. Optional Class
- Java 7: Null checks were commonly used, leading to
NullPointerExceptions.
- Java 8: Introduced the Optional class, which helps prevent
NullPointerExceptions by representing an optional value that might be null.
8. Security Improvements
- Java 7: Improved security through better certificate validation and protection against attacks.
- Java 8: Further security improvements, including better cryptography standards, enhanced key management, and improvements in the
KeyStore and SecureRandom APIs.
Feature Comparison Table
| Feature | Java 7 (JDK 1.7) | Java 8 (JDK 1.8) |
|---|
| Lambda Expressions | Not Available | Available |
| Streams API | Not Available | Available |
| Default Methods | Not Available | Available |
| Date/Time API | java.util.Date, Calendar | New java.time API |
| JavaScript Engine | Rhino | Nashorn (better performance) |
| Type Annotations | Not Available | Available |
| Method References | Not Available | Available |
| Parallel Streams | Not Available | Available |
| Optional Class | Not Available | Available |
| Functional Interfaces | Not Available | Available |
| Concurrency | Basic enhancements | CompletableFuture and Parallel Streams |
| Performance | Stable, with optimizations | Enhanced with Lambda and Streams |
Additional Features in JDK 1.7 and JDK 1.8
- JDK 1.7 was the first version of Java officially released by Oracle after acquiring Sun Microsystems.
- Try-with-resources feature was introduced in JDBC in Java 7.
- Diamond operator (
<>) was introduced in JDK 1.7 for generic classes.
- Switch statement started supporting String datatype in Java 7.
