JDK 7 features

This is the list of features being developed by Oracle, and others, for JDK 7.

These features will be proposed for inclusion in the Java SE 7 Platform JSR, except for those listed as implementation-specific.

Comments to: jdk7-dev at openjdk.java.net
Summary

Features are listed in order, more or less, from lowest to highest in the overall JDK software stack.

vm JSR 292: Support for dynamically-typed languages (InvokeDynamic)
Strict class-file checking
lang JSR 334: Small language enhancements (Project Coin)
core Upgrade class-loader architecture
Method to close a URLClassLoader
Concurrency and collections updates (jsr166y)
i18n Unicode 6.0
Locale enhancement
Separate user locale and user-interface locale
ionet JSR 203: More new I/O APIs for the Java platform (NIO.2)
NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip/jar archives
SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)
SDP (Sockets Direct Protocol)
Use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack
TLS 1.2
sec Elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC)
jdbc JDBC 4.1
client XRender pipeline for Java 2D
Create new platform APIs for 6u10 graphics features
Nimbus look-and-feel for Swing
Swing JLayer component
Gervill sound synthesizer [NEW]
web Update the XML stack
mgmt Enhanced MBeans [UPDATED]

This list contains one [NEW] feature, which was actually integrated in Milestone 1 but due to a clerical error was not listed here before. There is also one [UPDATED] feature.

Features that were once planned for JDK 7 but later deferred to JDK 8 or a later release are listed at the bottom of this page.
Virtual machine
JSR 292: Support for dynamically-typed languages (InvokeDynamic)
Extensions to the JVM, the Java language, and the Java SE API to support the implementation of dynamically-typed languages at performance levels near to that of the Java language itself
Lead: John Rose
Spec: JSR 292; java.lang.invoke
Links: project page; wiki page; mailing list
Milestone target: M3
Strict class-file checking
As specified in JSR 202, which was part of Java SE 6, and in the recently-approved maintenance revision of JSR 924, class files of version 51 (SE 7) or later must be verified with the typechecking verifier; the VM must not fail over to the old inferencing verifier.
Lead: Karen Kinnear
Spec: JSR 202 §4.11.1
Milestone target: M9
Language
JSR 334: Small language enhancements (Project Coin)
A set of small language changes intended to simplify common, day-to-day programming tasks: Strings in switch statements, try-with-resources statements, improved type inference for generic instance creation ("diamond"), simplified varargs method invocation, better integral literals, and improved exception handling (multi-catch)
Lead: Joe Darcy
Spec: JSR 334
Links: project page; mailing list
Milestone target: M11
Core
Upgrade class-loader architecture
Modifications to the ClassLoader API and implementation to avoid deadlocks in non-hierarchical class-loader topologies
Lead: Karen Kinnear
Spec: java.lang.ClassLoader: registerAsParallelCapable, getClassLoadingLock
Links: summary
Milestone target: M3
Method to close a URLClassLoader
A method that frees the underlying resources, such as open files, held by a URLClassLoader
Lead: Michael McMahon
Spec: java.net.URLClassLoader.close
Links: summary
Milestone target: M2
Concurrency and collections updates (jsr166y)
A lightweight fork/join framework, flexible and reusable synchronization barriers, transfer queues, concurrent linked double-ended queues, and thread-local pseudo-random number generators
Lead: Doug Lea
Spec: java.util.concurrent: ForkJoinPool, Phaser, TransferQueue, ConcurrentLinkedDeque, ThreadLocalRandom
Links: overview; draft api; wiki
Milestone target: M5
Internationalization
Unicode 6.0
Upgrade the supported version of Unicode to 6.0
Lead: Yuka Kamiya
Spec: Unicode 6.0; java.lang.Character
Milestone target: M11
Locale enhancement
Upgrade the java.util.Locale class to support IETF BCP 47 (Tags for Identifying Languages) and UTR 35 (Local Data Markup Language)
Spec: IETF BCP 47 : java.util.Locale: forLanguageTag, toLanguageTag; UTR 35 : java.util.Locale: getUnicodeLocaleAttributes, getUnicodeLocaleType, getUnicodeLocaleKeys
Links: overview
Milestone target: M11
Separate user locale and user-interface locale
Upgrade the handling of locales to separate formatting locales from user-interface language locales
Spec: java.util.Locale: getDefault, setDefault; Locale.Category
Milestone target: M11
I/O and Networking
JSR 203: More new I/O APIs for the Java platform (NIO.2)
New APIs for filesystem access, scalable asynchronous I/O operations, socket-channel binding and configuration, and multicast datagrams
Lead: Alan Bateman
Spec: JSR 203
Links: project page; interview; talk video; java.net article
Milestone target: M2
NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip/jar archives
A fully-functional and supported NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip and jar files
Lead: Alan Bateman
Milestone target: M11
SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)
An implementation-specific API for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol on Solaris
Lead: Chris Hegarty
Links: project page; mailing list
Milestone target: M3
SDP (Sockets Direct Protocol)
Implementation-specific support for reliable, high-performance network streams over Infiniband connections on Solaris and Linux
Lead: Alan Bateman
Milestone target: M3
Use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack
Upgrade the networking code to use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack, when available, in preference to the legacy Windows stack
Lead: Michael McMahon
Milestone target: M1
TLS 1.2
Add support for Transport Layer Security version 1.2 (RFC 5246)
Lead: Brad Wetmore
Spec: RFC 5246, RFC 5289, RFC 5469; javax.net.ssl: ExtendedSSLSession, SSLSocket.getHandshakeSession
Milestone target: M11
Security & Cryptography
Elliptic-curve cryptography (ECC)
A portable implementation of the standard Elliptic Curve Cryptographic (ECC) algorithms, so that all Java applications can use ECC out-of-the-box
Lead: Vincent Ryan
Milestone target: M5
Database Connectivity
JDBC 4.1
Upgrade to JDBC 4.1 and Rowset 1.1
Lead: Lance Andersen
Spec: java.sql; javax.sql.rowset: RowSetFactory, RowSetProvider
Milestone target: M11
Client
XRender pipeline for Java 2D
A new Java2D graphics pipeline based upon the X11 XRender extension, which provides access to much of the functionality of modern GPUs
Lead: Clemens Eisserer; team:Dmitri Trembovetski
Milestone target: M9
Create new platform APIs for 6u10 graphics features
Create new platform APIs for features originally implemented in the 6u10 release: Translucent and shaped windows, and heavyweight/lightweight component mixing
Lead: Anthony Petrov
Spec: java.awt: Window: setShape, setOpacity; Component
Milestone target: M3
Nimbus look-and-feel for Swing
A next-generation cross-platform look-and-feel for Swing
Lead: Jasper Potts; team:Richard Bair, Peter Zhelezniakov
Spec: javax.swing.plaf.nimbus
Links: project page
Milestone target: M3
Swing JLayer component
Add the SwingLabs JXLayer component decorator to the platform
Lead: Alexander Potochkin
Spec: javax.swing.JLayer
Links: JXLayer project
Milestone target: M5
Gervill sound synthesizer [NEW]
Drop the old, proprietary, encumbered sound synthesizer in favor of Gervill, a synthesizer created as a proposal for the Audio Synthesis Engine Project
Lead: Karl Helgason
Links: project page
Milestone target: M1
Web
Update the XML stack
Upgrade the components of the XML stack to the most recent stable versions: JAXP 1.4, JAXB 2.2a, and JAX-WS 2.2
Lead: Joe Wang
Spec: Corresponding maintenance reviews of JSR 206 (JAXP), JSR 222 (JAXB), and JSR 224 (JAX-WS)
Milestone target: M12
Management
Enhanced MBeans [UPDATED]
Enhancements to the existing com.sun.management MBeans to report the recent CPU load of the whole system, the CPU load of the JVM process, and to send JMX notifications when GC events occur (this feature previously included an enhanced JMX Agent, but that was dropped due to lack of time)
Lead: Frederic Parain
Spec: com.sun.management: OperatingSystemMXBean, GarbageCollectorMXBean
Milestone target: M13
Deferred to JDK 8 or later
JSR 294: Language and VM support for modular programming
Enhancements to the Java language and virtual-machine specifications to support modular programming, at both compile time and run time
Lead: Alex Buckley
Spec: JSR 294
Links: mailing list
JSR 308: Annotations on Java types
An extension to the Java annotation syntax to permit annotations on any occurrence of a type
Lead: Michael Ernst; team:Jonathan Gibbons
Spec: JSR 308
Links: project page; detailed project page
JSR TBD: Language support for collections
Literal expressions for immutable lists, sets, and maps, and indexing-access syntax for lists and maps
Lead: Joe Darcy
Links: project page; mailing list
JSR TBD: Project Lambda
Lambda expressions (informally, "closures") and defender methods for the Java programming language
Lead: Brian Goetz; team:Alex Buckley, Jonathan Gibbons, Mark Reinhold
Links: project page; mailing list
Modularization (Project Jigsaw)
A simple, low-level module system focused upon the goal of modularizing the JDK, and the application of that system to the JDK itself
Lead: Mark Reinhold; team:Alex Buckley, Jonathan Gibbons
Links: introduction; project page; mailing list
JSR 296: Swing application framework
An API to define the basic structure of a typical Swing application, thereby eliminating lots of boilerplate code and providing a much-improved initial developer experience
Lead: Alexander Potochkin
Spec: JSR 296
Swing JDatePicker component
Add the SwingLabs JXDatePicker component to the platform
Lead: Alexander Potochkin
Links: JXDatePicker api