Java Versions
Compatibility
- Java has been around for 30 years = a lot of new versions have come out!
- Does it matter what version? Yes!
- Java’s promise of robustness means that most code you write in a really old version of Java will still run perfectly fine in a new version of Java.
- In other words, code written and maintained 20 years ago won’t suddenly break or be useless in a modern environment.
- This makes Java very attractive to large software corporations who wanna evolve without having new features break their code.
Releases
In the beginning…
- New version every one or two years.
- Was quite sporadic, lacked traction, making Java less attractive for developers who wanted modern features.
- Between version 6 and 7 -> 5 years!
After Java 8…
- New version every 6 months.
- These “feature releases” you can consider to be the “beta testing” versions, only interesting to experiment with to sneak peek upcoming features.
- New LTS (Long-term support) version every 3 years.
- These have the best/longest support and highest adoption rate for that reason.
- These versions receive bug fixes and vulnerability patches long after their release.
- These are the most interesting ones for you to work with, especially at production.
- Note: They struggled at first to stick to this plan, so it only truly got going with this release cadence since Java 11.
- Newest LTS version ATOW is: Java 21 released in Sep. 2023.
- More info on the Java version history.
| Version | Release date | End of Public Updates (Free) |
|---|---|---|
| JDK 1.0 | 23rd January 1996 | May 1996 |
| JDK 1.1 | 18th February 1997 | October 2002 |
| J2SE 1.2 | 4th December 1998 | November 2003 |
| J2SE 1.3 | 8th May 2000 | March 2006 |
| J2SE 1.4 | 13th February 2002 | October 2008 |
| J2SE 5.0 | 30th September 2004 | October 2009 |
| Java SE 6 | 11th December 2006 | April 2013 |
| Java SE 7 | 28th July 2011 | July 2015 |
| Java SE 8 (LTS) | 18th March 2014 | April 2019 for Oracle July 2026 for Amazon Corretto[12] November 2026 for Eclipse Temurin[13] November 2026 for Red Hat[7] December 2030 for Azul[10] March 2031 for BellSoft Liberica[9] |
| Java SE 9 | 21st September 2017 | March 2018 |
| Java SE 10 | 20th March 2018 | September 2018 |
| Java SE 11 (LTS) | 25th September 2018 | April 2019 for Oracle October 2024 for Eclipse Temurin[13] October 2024 for Red Hat[7] March 2027 for BellSoft Liberica[9] October 2027 for Amazon Corretto[12] January 2032 for Azul[10] |
| Java SE 12 | 19th March 2019 | September 2019 |
| Java SE 13 | 17th September 2019 | March 2020 |
| Java SE 14 | 17th March 2020 | September 2020 |
| Java SE 15 | 16th September 2020 | March 2021 |
| Java SE 16 | 16th March 2021 | September 2021 |
| Java SE 17 (LTS) | 14th September 2021 | September 2024 for Oracle[15] October 2027 for Eclipse Temurin[13] October 2027 for Red Hat[7] October 2028 for Amazon Corretto[12] September 2029 for Azul[10] March 2030 for BellSoft Liberica[9] |
| Java SE 18 | 22nd March 2022 | September 2022 |
| Java SE 19 | 20th September 2022 | March 2023 |
| Java SE 20 | 21st March 2023 | September 2023 |
| Java SE 21 (LTS) | 19th September 2023 | September 2026 for Oracle[15] September 2029 for Eclipse Temurin[13] September 2029 for Red Hat[7] October 2030 for Amazon Corretto[12] September 2031 for Azul[10] March 2032 for BellSoft Liberica[9] |
| Java SE 22 | 19th March 2024 | September 2024 |