Java 7 is now available • Hacker News Board

Re: Java 7 is now available

#31

Post by Mitt » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:07 PM UTC

nkassis wrote: post #27

So for languages like Clojure,Scala does this offer any new feature for them?

Yes, Clojure will profit from Fork/Join: http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/concurr...

For example see here, pvec: http://clojure.org/other_libraries

Of course, improvements like the GC1, improvements in HotSpot etc, they all will make Clojure apps run even faster.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#32

Post by ghotli » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:07 PM UTC

nkassis wrote: post #27

So for languages like Clojure,Scala does this offer any new feature for them?

Yes [1]. Invokedynamic (JSR-262). Quote from an older article [2]:

"... enable[s] implementers of compilers for dynamically typed languages, that is, the people who develop compilers for languages such as JRuby and Jython, to generate bytecode that runs extremely fast in the JVM."

[1] http://blogs.oracle.com/jrose/entry/jsr_292_launched_in_java

[2] http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/DynTypeLang/...

Re: Java 7 is now available

#33

Post by Mitt » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:14 PM UTC

bensummers wrote: post #29

nkassis wrote: post #27

So for languages like Clojure,Scala does this offer any new feature for them?

For dynamic JVM languages, the new invokedynamic bytecode is a huge performance boost.

Probably not. See what Rich Hickey said about this: http://clojure-log.n01se.net/date/2008-09-03.html#09:13a

Re: Java 7 is now available

#34

Post by bethling » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:16 PM UTC

famousactress wrote: post #21

Meh. The world turns. I spent a decade developing primarily in Java, and the last few years were really disappointing. The community splintered, the language and platform really lost any ability to maintain momentum. I might have been stoked about Java 7 three years ago (when it should have come out).

I don't know if I agree. The Java language has floundered (I've been stuck coding in it for the last couple of years), but I think the platform/JVM has started becoming used more and more often for new + exciting language options. The new release should make implementing dynamic languages on top of the JVM easiser, and could open the doors for a lot of interesting options.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#35

Post by kennystone » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:22 PM UTC

Good for Oracle. There are (reasonable) concerns about their ownership of Java, but at least it's moving forward again.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#36

Post by runevault » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:35 PM UTC

Mitt wrote: post #31

nkassis wrote: post #27

So for languages like Clojure,Scala does this offer any new feature for them?

Yes, Clojure will profit from Fork/Join: http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/essential/concurr... For example see here, pvec: http://clojure.org/other_libraries Of course, improvements like the GC1, improvements in HotSpot etc, they all will make Clojure apps run even faster.

Oh nice, I thought F/J got pushed into 8. Glad to see I was wrong.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#37

Post by czDev » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:36 PM UTC

oh man, can't wait to use closures in my Java code

Re: Java 7 is now available

#38

Post by runevault » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:36 PM UTC

Mitt wrote: post #33

bensummers wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For dynamic JVM languages, the new invokedynamic bytecode is a huge performance boost.

Probably not. See what Rich Hickey said about this: http://clojure-log.n01se.net/date/2008-09-03.html#09:13a

For clojure no, but jRuby and several similar languages are getting a huge boost.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#39

Post by bretthoerner » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:37 PM UTC

famousactress wrote: post #21

Meh. The world turns. I spent a decade developing primarily in Java, and the last few years were really disappointing. The community splintered, the language and platform really lost any ability to maintain momentum. I might have been stoked about Java 7 three years ago (when it should have come out).

Keep in mind this is JDK 7 (the JVM, libraries, tools), it's not only a Java The Language update.

Re: Java 7 is now available

#40

Post by st3fan » Thu, Jul 28, 2011, 4:39 PM UTC

j_col wrote: post #16

You can now finally use a string in a switch statement, hurray (it's the little things that make me happy)! http://download.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/la...

IntelliJ IDEA strongly suggests to turn those Strings into constants. And then to turn those constants into an Enum. Oh wait, we could also switch() on Enum values!

I'm sure this is useful in some cases though :-)