Virtul Machine
JSR 292: Support for dynamically-typed languages (InvokeDynamic)
VM and language extensions to support the implementation of dynamically-typed languages at performance levels near to that of the Java language itself
Strict class-file checking [NEW]
Per the Java SE 6 specification, class files of version 51 (SE 7) or later must be verified with the typechecking verifier introduced by JSR 202 in Java SE 6; the VM must not fail over to the old inferencing verifier
Language
JSR 334: Small language enhancements (Project Coin)
A set of small language changes intended to simplify common, day-to-day programming tasks:
1. Strings in switch statements
2. Automatic resource management
3. Improved type inference for generic instance creation ("diamond")
4. Simplified varargs method invocation,
5. Better integral literals,
6. Improved exception handling (multi-catch)
Core
Upgrade class-loader architecture
Modifications to the ClassLoader API and implementation to avoid deadlocks in non-hierarchical class-loader topologies
Method to close a URLClassLoader
A method that frees the underlying resources, such as open files, held by a URLClassLoader
Concurrency and collections updates (jsr166y)
A lightweight fork/join framework, flexible and reusable synchronization barriers, transfer queues, a concurrent-reference HashMap, and thread-local pseudo-random number generators
Internationalization
Unicode 6.0
Upgrade the supported version of Unicode to 6.0
Locale enhancement
Upgrade the java.util.Locale class to support IETF BCP 47 and UTR 35 (CLDR/LDML)
Separate user locale and user-interface locale
Upgrade the handling of locales to separate formatting locales from user-interface language locales, as is done on Vista and later versions of Windows
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
NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip/jar archives
A fully-functional and supported NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip and jar files
SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol)
An implementation-specific API for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol on Solaris
SDP (Sockets Direct Protocol)
Implementation-specific support for reliable, high-performance network streams over Infiniband connections on Solaris and Linux
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
TLS 1.2
Add support for TLS 1.2, which was standardized in 2008 as RFC 5246
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
JDBC
JDBC 4.1
Upgrade to JDBC 4.1 and Rowset 1.1
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
Create new platform APIs for 6u10 graphics features
Create new platform APIs for features originally implemented in the 6u10 release: Translucent and shaped windows, heavyweight/lightweight mixing, and the improved AWT security warning
Nimbus look-and-feel for Swing
A next-generation cross-platform look-and-feel for Swing
Swing JLayer component
Add the SwingLabs JXLayer component decorator to the platform
Web
Update the XML stack
Upgrade the JAXP, JAXB, and JAX-WS APIs to the most recent stable versions
Management
Enhanced JMX Agent and MBeans [NEW]
An implementation-specific enhanced JMX management agent, ported from JRockit, which makes it easier to connect to the platform MBean server through firewalls, together with a richer set of MBeans which expose additional information about the internal operation of the VM
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
JSR 308: Annotations on Java types
An extension to the Java annotation syntax to permit annotations on any occurrence of a type
JSR TBD: Language support for collections
Literal expressions for immutable lists, sets, and maps, and indexing-access syntax for lists and maps
JSR TBD: Project Lambda
Lambda expressions (informally, "closures") and defender methods for the Java programming language
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
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
Swing JDatePicker component
Add the SwingLabs JXDatePicker component to the platform
