Java Versions History

Java has evolved significantly since its first release. Each version introduced features that improved performance, developer productivity, and scalability. Below is a quick overview of major Java versions.

Java 1.0 (1996)

• First official Java release
• Introduced JVM (Java Virtual Machine)
• Write Once Run Anywhere concept
• Applet support for web applications

Java 1.2 (1998) – Java 2

• Introduced Collections Framework
• Swing GUI toolkit
• Improved performance and security

Java 1.3 (2000)

• HotSpot JVM introduced
• Improved networking libraries
• Performance optimizations

Java 1.4 (2002)

• Assertions
• Logging API
• NIO (New Input Output)
• XML processing support

Java 5 (2004)

• Generics
• Annotations
• Enhanced for-loop
• Enum
• Autoboxing and Unboxing

List names = new ArrayList<>();

for(String name : names){
    System.out.println(name);
}

Java 6 (2006)

• Performance improvements
• JDBC enhancements
• Compiler improvements
• Scripting API

Java 7 (2011)

• Try-with-resources
• Diamond operator
• Fork Join framework
• NIO.2 filesystem API

try (BufferedReader br = new BufferedReader(new FileReader("file.txt"))) {
    System.out.println(br.readLine());
}

Java 8 (2014)

• Lambda Expressions
• Stream API
• Functional Interfaces
• New Date Time API

list.stream()
    .filter(x -> x > 10)
    .forEach(System.out::println);

Java 9 (2017)

• Module System (Project Jigsaw)
• JShell (interactive Java shell)
• Improved Stream API

Java 10 (2018)

• Local variable type inference using var

var name = "Java";

Java 11 (2018) – LTS

• HTTP Client API
• New String methods
• Removed Java EE modules

Java 17 (2021) – LTS

• Records
• Sealed Classes
• Pattern Matching improvements
• Performance improvements

Java 21 (2023) – LTS

• Virtual Threads
• Record patterns
• Pattern matching improvements
• Sequenced collections

Thread.startVirtualThread(() -> {
    System.out.println("Running task");
});

Java 25 (2025) – LTS

• Primitive Pattern Matching
• Scoped Values
• Structured Concurrency
• Virtual thread improvements

Important Java LTS Versions

Most enterprise applications migrate between LTS versions because they provide long-term stability and support.