Paul Krill
Editor at Large

Mark your calendars: Java 9 lands next year

news
May 7, 20152 mins

The Java 9 schedule, released by an Oracle official, allows for time to test key upgrades such as modularity

Java 9 would arrive on Sept. 22, 2016, under a proposed schedule posted online by a prominent Oracle Java official this week.

In a mailing list message cited on Twitter, a schedule for Java Development Kit 9, which would be based on the Java Standard Edition 9 specification, has the release being feature-complete on Dec. 10 with several additional steps taken before general availability in September 2016. The message was posted by Mark Reinhold, chief architect of the Java platform group at Oracle.

“The dates here are meant to leave sufficient time for broad review and testing of the significant features of the release, in particular the introduction of a module system and the modularization of the platform, while maintaining the cadence of shipping a major release about every two years,” Reinhold said in the post.” Modularity via Project Jigsaw is a key feature of Java 9. The last major release of Java, version 8, became available in March 2014 and featured functional programming capabilities.

Other milestones in the schedule include having all tests run by Feb. 4 of next year, a zero bug bounce by April 21, 2016, and Rampdown phase 2 by June 16, 2016. Reinhold said comments from JDK 9 committers are welcome. If no objections are raised or all objections are addressed by next Tuesday, then the proposed schedule will be adopted as official.

Paul Krill

Paul Krill is editor at large at InfoWorld. Paul has been covering computer technology as a news and feature reporter for more than 35 years, including 30 years at InfoWorld. He has specialized in coverage of software development tools and technologies since the 1990s, and he continues to lead InfoWorld’s news coverage of software development platforms including Java and .NET and programming languages including JavaScript, TypeScript, PHP, Python, Ruby, Rust, and Go. Long trusted as a reporter who prioritizes accuracy, integrity, and the best interests of readers, Paul is sought out by technology companies and industry organizations who want to reach InfoWorld’s audience of software developers and other information technology professionals. Paul has won a “Best Technology News Coverage” award from IDG.

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