J2SE 1.4.2 or J2SE 5.0?

M

Martijn Mulder

At Sun's download page at

http://java.sun.com/j2se/

I have the choice between J2SE version 1.4.2 and
J2SE version 5.0. I program applications and applets
for the average Windows user.

It seems there is missing some three and a half version
of J2SE. Or is this policy at Sun, where they shipped
Java2 as JDK1.3.1 (to complicate matters).

What version will do for me? I want a stable and bug-free development kit.
 
D

Daniel Dyer

At Sun's download page at

http://java.sun.com/j2se/

I have the choice between J2SE version 1.4.2 and
J2SE version 5.0. I program applications and applets
for the average Windows user.

It seems there is missing some three and a half version
of J2SE. Or is this policy at Sun, where they shipped
Java2 as JDK1.3.1 (to complicate matters).

What version will do for me? I want a stable and bug-free development
kit.

Suns' marketing people are crazy. Java 1.1 and earlier were just Java
(not Java 2). Java 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 were all Java 2. Java 5.0 is also
(still) Java 2 ("the platform") but is often referred to as 1.5 as this
line of versioning has been retained for the SDK (which has reverted to
being referred to as the JDK). There has not been any Java 3 or Java 4.
The next version is to be called Java 6 (but it will still be J2SE as the
platform is still "Java 2").

So what we have these days is the "Java Development Kit version 1.5 for
the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition version 5.0". This is from the same
company that gave us the incredibly misleading "Sun Java Desktop".

I've no idea how Sun will dig themselves out of this hole in the future.
Maybe after JDK 1.9 well get J10SE?

In my experience Java 5.0 is fine. Some companies want to stick with the
tried and tested 1.4.2 in case there is some nasty problem lurking in 5.0
that has not beeen revealed because it has not been used as extensively.

Dan.
 
A

Andrew Thompson

I have the choice between J2SE version 1.4.2 and
J2SE version 5.0. I program applications and applets
for the average Windows user.

In general, it helps for developers to have the latest SDK,
unless it is a very buggy 'beta' release. With the latest
SDK, you can generally do everything you could in previous
SDKs (including compiling for 1.1 compatibility etc.),
plus a little more.
It seems there is missing some three and a half version
of J2SE. Or is this policy at Sun, where they shipped
Java2 as JDK1.3.1 (to complicate matters).

I heard it put down to 'Marketing Types' who felt there
was a perception that Java was 'falling behind' because
the version numbers were not going up as fast as ..the Jones'
(or whatever technology was flavour of the moment).

Hence, the huge leap of numbers.
What version will do for me? I want a stable and bug-free development kit.

The 1.5.0_03 SDK release is pretty good, though there is
still a niggling bug in the JRE that sends IE haywire if
you hit an appet URL that conatins an expanded '~' (that
won't be fixed until 1.5.0_04).

The '03' variant is pretty safe to develop with, but I will
not be recommending 1.5 to my applet users until the later
(_04) fix is available.

HTH
 
M

Martijn Mulder

I have the choice between J2SE version 1.4.2 and
In general, it helps for developers to have the latest SDK,
unless it is a very buggy 'beta' release. With the latest
SDK, you can generally do everything you could in previous
SDKs (including compiling for 1.1 compatibility etc.),
plus a little more.


I heard it put down to 'Marketing Types' who felt there
was a perception that Java was 'falling behind' because
the version numbers were not going up as fast as ..the Jones'
(or whatever technology was flavour of the moment).

Hence, the huge leap of numbers.


The 1.5.0_03 SDK release is pretty good, though there is
still a niggling bug in the JRE that sends IE haywire if
you hit an appet URL that conatins an expanded '~' (that
won't be fixed until 1.5.0_04).

The '03' variant is pretty safe to develop with, but I will
not be recommending 1.5 to my applet users until the later
(_04) fix is available.




Thank you Andrew, thank you Daniel. J2SE 5.0 version 4 is
available now, my computer is taking it in this very moment.
 
A

Andrew Thompson

J2SE 5.0 version 4 is available now, ..
Hoorah!

...my computer is taking it in this very moment.

If your feed slows down, it's cos' I'm
sucking all the bits to Australia. ;-)
 
R

Roland

In general, it helps for developers to have the latest SDK,
unless it is a very buggy 'beta' release. With the latest
SDK, you can generally do everything you could in previous
SDKs (including compiling for 1.1 compatibility etc.),
plus a little more.




I heard it put down to 'Marketing Types' who felt there
was a perception that Java was 'falling behind' because
the version numbers were not going up as fast as ..the Jones'
(or whatever technology was flavour of the moment).

Hence, the huge leap of numbers.




The 1.5.0_03 SDK release is pretty good, though there is
still a niggling bug in the JRE that sends IE haywire if
you hit an appet URL that conatins an expanded '~' (that
won't be fixed until 1.5.0_04).

If you are referring to bug 6227551
(<http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6227551>), that bug
was fixed in 1.5.0_03. See
The '03' variant is pretty safe to develop with, but I will
not be recommending 1.5 to my applet users until the later
(_04) fix is available.

HTH


--
Regards,

Roland de Ruiter
` ___ ___
`/__/ w_/ /__/
/ \ /_/ / \
 
W

Wendy Smoak

Martijn Mulder said:
Thank you Andrew, thank you Daniel. J2SE 5.0 version 4 is
available now, my computer is taking it in this very moment.

FWIW, you might want to get *both* 1.5 and 1.4.2. You'll still run into
some situations for a while where 1.5 won't work. (Building other people's
projects, mostly.)
 
M

Martijn Mulder

Daniel Dyer said:
Suns' marketing people are crazy. Java 1.1 and earlier were just Java
(not Java 2). Java 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 were all Java 2. Java 5.0 is also
(still) Java 2 ("the platform") but is often referred to as 1.5 as this
line of versioning has been retained for the SDK (which has reverted to
being referred to as the JDK)... <snip>

fyi, the version I tried to download and install, (didn't work, the Windows
installer
is corrupt) is called jdk_1_5_0_04-etc... So JDK again. Shall we nominate them?
 
R

Roland

I was indeed.




Aaah.. I see I misread the bug resolution now.
No *wonder* no-one would talk to me, when I asked
when I could download _04!

Thanks for the clarification.
IIRC the bug was initially scheduled to be fixed in release _04. But
maybe due to the severity of the bug it has been fixed earlier (or the
bug was trivial to fix...)
--
Regards,

Roland de Ruiter
` ___ ___
`/__/ w_/ /__/
/ \ /_/ / \
 
R

Roland

Suns' marketing people are crazy. Java 1.1 and earlier were just Java
(not Java 2). Java 1.2, 1.3 and 1.4 were all Java 2. Java 5.0 is also
(still) Java 2 ("the platform") but is often referred to as 1.5 as this
line of versioning has been retained for the SDK (which has reverted to
being referred to as the JDK). There has not been any Java 3 or Java
4. The next version is to be called Java 6 (but it will still be J2SE
as the platform is still "Java 2").

So what we have these days is the "Java Development Kit version 1.5 for
the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition version 5.0". This is from the
same company that gave us the incredibly misleading "Sun Java Desktop".

I've no idea how Sun will dig themselves out of this hole in the
future. Maybe after JDK 1.9 well get J10SE?

In my experience Java 5.0 is fine. Some companies want to stick with
the tried and tested 1.4.2 in case there is some nasty problem lurking
in 5.0 that has not beeen revealed because it has not been used as
extensively.

Dan.

Well, hold your breath. According to Graham Hamilton's blog, Sun is
going to change the names of the platforms again: the Java marketing
team have decided to simplify the naming system by dropping the "2" from
the platform name and the ".0" from the release number.
J2SE -> Java SE
J2EE -> Java EE
J2ME -> Java ME
The next release after J2SE 5.0 (codename Tiger) will thus become "Java
SE 6" (Mustang).
<http://weblogs.java.net/blog/kgh/archive/2005/06/goodbye_j2se_he_1.html>
<http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/javaone2005/naming.html>
--
Regards,

Roland de Ruiter
` ___ ___
`/__/ w_/ /__/
/ \ /_/ / \
 
D

Daniel Dyer

Well, hold your breath. According to Graham Hamilton's blog, Sun is
going to change the names of the platforms again: the Java marketing
team have decided to simplify the naming system by dropping the "2" from
the platform name and the ".0" from the release number.
J2SE -> Java SE
J2EE -> Java EE
J2ME -> Java ME
The next release after J2SE 5.0 (codename Tiger) will thus become "Java
SE 6" (Mustang).
<http://weblogs.java.net/blog/kgh/archive/2005/06/goodbye_j2se_he_1.html>
<http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/javaone2005/naming.html>

Well that would be a reasonably sensible move but could lead to more
confusion, particularly for the enterprise edition. "J2EE" has become
synonymous with "enterprise Java" and is indispensible in the buzzword
bingo world of IT recruitment. HR departments will be especially
confused, particularly as "Java 2 Enterprise Edition" to "Java Enterprise
Edition" looks like a regression.

Dan.
 
?

.

At Sun's download page at

http://java.sun.com/j2se/

I have the choice between J2SE version 1.4.2 and
J2SE version 5.0. I program applications and applets
for the average Windows user.

There are some significant syntax changes from 1.4.2 to 1.5.0 (also called
J2SE 5.0). If you are just programming for yourself then go for 1.5.0. If
you want to be able to write code that 1.4.2 can use then be careful. Some
1.5.0 code will not work on 1.4.2 but all 1.4.2 code will work on 1.5.0.
It seems there is missing some three and a half version
of J2SE. Or is this policy at Sun, where they shipped
Java2 as JDK1.3.1 (to complicate matters).

With Sun there is marketing and there is development. It seems the two
will always differ. Here is the basic run down:

Dev Marketing
--- ---------
1.0 Java 1.0
1.1 Java 1.1
1.2 Java 2 or J2SE
1.3 J2SE 1.3
1.4 J2SE 1.4
1.5 J2SE 5.0
1.6 Java SE 6

To be honest, I probably got something wrong. I always talk in terms of
what `java -version` or `java -fullversion` outputs. All this Java 2,
J2SE, Java SE stuff is really just marketing and branding. I let our
marketing people deal with what (tm) and (c) stuff goes in the
documentation and adverts.

I'd recommend 1.5.0_03-b07. The 1.6.0 is the next release so you want to
stick with something that has been out there in production environments.
That would be 1.5.0.
 
?

.

Well that would be a reasonably sensible move but could lead to more
confusion, particularly for the enterprise edition. "J2EE" has become
synonymous with "enterprise Java" and is indispensible in the buzzword
bingo world of IT recruitment. HR departments will be especially
confused, particularly as "Java 2 Enterprise Edition" to "Java Enterprise
Edition" looks like a regression.

Hmmm, never thought about this. I was always thinking it didn't matter
what I use because everyone I work with knows what I'm talking about
regardless of what terminology I am using.

I could get screened out of an interview just because I used J2EE rather
than Java EE or Java Enterprise Edition. Something to remember next time
I'm updating my resume.
 
M

Martijn Mulder

FWIW, you might want to get *both* 1.5 and 1.4.2. You'll still run into
some situations for a while where 1.5 won't work. (Building other people's
projects, mostly.)


I just installed jdk1.5.0_04 on a Windows machine and compiled an
application. The 'minimize' button on the right top of the frame
looks crippled. Lightweight, so I suppose java put it there. When
full size, the button looks OK.
 
T

Tor Iver Wilhelmsen

Daniel Dyer said:
So what we have these days is the "Java Development Kit version 1.5
for the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition version 5.0". This is from
the same company that gave us the incredibly misleading "Sun Java
Desktop".

It's marketing, you can't have Java 1.5 when C# has 2.0, since 2.0 is
higher than 1.5, indicating C# has surpassed Java (it hasn't by the
way).
I've no idea how Sun will dig themselves out of this hole in the
future. Maybe after JDK 1.9 well get J10SE?

It's nothing compared to Solaris. SunOS 5.7 = Solaris 2.7 = Solaris 7.

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/solaris/versions/
 

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