Karl Avedal

A major event is about to happen - the final release of version 1.5 of the core Java platform. The changes in 1.5 are some of the most important to the Java language. This is a big step for Java and it's not an easy one. People with an existing investment in the platform tend to be very conservative about the language and core platform, usually for good reasons: nobody likes to have their investment rely on something that has been deprecated, made obsolete, and possibly becoming unsupported. Dramatic changes to the Java language upset a lot of people, not just anyone but some of the long-time Java users who have played a part in making Java successful. Language growth is both painful and necessary. In Guy Steele's famous speech and article "Growing a Language" from 1998... (more)