What's New in JDK 8

Java Platform, Standard Edition 8 is a major feature release. This document summarizes features and enhancements in Java SE 8 and in JDK 8, Oracle's implementation of Java SE 8. Click the component name for a more detailed description of the enhancements for that component.

• Java Programming Language
  
  • Lambda Expressions, a new language feature, has been introduced in this release. They enable you to treat functionality as a method argument, or code as data. Lambda expressions let you express instances of single-method interfaces (referred to as functional interfaces) more compactly.
    
  • Method references provide easy-to-read lambda expressions for methods that already have a name.
    
  • Default methods enable new functionality to be added to the interfaces of libraries and ensure binary compatibility with code written for older versions of those interfaces.
    
  • Repeating Annotations provide the ability to apply the same annotation type more than once to the same declaration or type use.
    
  • Type Annotations provide the ability to apply an annotation anywhere a type is used, not just on a declaration. Used with a pluggable type system, this feature enables improved type checking of your code.
    
  • Improved type inference.
    
  • Method parameter reflection.
    
• Collections
  
  • Classes in the new java.util.stream package provide a Stream API to support functional-style operations on streams of elements. The Stream API is integrated into the Collections API, which enables bulk operations on collections, such as sequential or parallel map-reduce transformations.
    
  • Performance Improvement for HashMaps with Key Collisions
    
• Compact Profiles contain predefined subsets of the Java SE platform and enable applications that do not require the entire Platform to be deployed and run on small devices.
  
• Security
  
  • Client-side TLS 1.2 enabled by default
    
  • New variant of AccessController.doPrivileged that enables code to assert a subset of its privileges, without preventing the full traversal of the stack to check for other permissions
    
  • Stronger algorithms for password-based encryption
    
  • SSL/TLS Server Name Indication (SNI) Extension support in JSSE Server
    
  • Support for AEAD algorithms: The SunJCE provider is enhanced to support AES/GCM/NoPadding cipher implementation as well as GCM algorithm parameters. And the SunJSSE provider is enhanced to support AEAD mode based cipher suites. See Oracle Providers Documentation, JEP 115.
    
  • KeyStore enhancements, including the new Domain KeyStore type java.security.DomainLoadStoreParameter, and the new command option