"We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows."
- Robert Frost
The current state, and future plans, for JDK 8 seem to be well-kept secrets, so I'm writing this post to shed some light on the subject.
Well-kept "secret" #1:
The schedule for upcoming features in JDK 8 builds is posted, listed by feature and by milestone. These lists are available from the JDK 8 page on the OpenJDK site.
Well-kept "secret" #2:
Significant progress has been made in Project Jigsaw, and active development continues. You can see working documents, a quick start guide, and sign up for the mailing list at the preceding link. You can also download an early access version of JDK 8 with Project Jigsaw to try it out.
Well-kept "secret" #3:
You can play with lambda expressions (closures and related features) now, using them, for example, in JavaFX event handlers. Check out the Project Lambda page on the OpenJDK site for very detailed documentation and early access downloads.
Have fun learning about, and playing with, these upcoming JDK features!
Regards,
James Weaver
james.weaver@oracle.com
