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.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.
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.
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
java.security.DomainLoadStoreParameter, and the new command option -importpassword for the keytool utility
java.security.cert.PKIXRevocationChecker class for configuring revocation checking of X.509 certificates
SwingNode class enables developers to embed Swing content into JavaFX applications. See the SwingNode javadoc and Embedding Swing Content in JavaFX Applications.
javafx.print package provides the public classes for the JavaFX Printing API. See the javadoc for more information.
Shape3D (Box, Cylinder, MeshView, and Sphere subclasses), SubScene, Material, PickResult, LightBase (AmbientLight and PointLight subclasses) , and SceneAntialiasing API classes have been added to the JavaFX 3D Graphics library. The Camera API class has also been updated in this release. See the corresponding class javadoc for javafx.scene.shape.Shape3D, javafx.scene.SubScene, javafx.scene.paint.Material, javafx.scene.input.PickResult, javafx.scene.SceneAntialiasing, and the Getting Started with JavaFX 3D Graphics document.
WebView class provides new features and improvements. Review Supported Features of HTML5 for more information about additional HTML5 features including Web Sockets, Web Workers, and Web Fonts.
jjs command is provided to invoke the Nashorn engine.
java command launches JavaFX applications.
java man page has been reworked.
jdeps command-line tool is provided for analyzing class files.
jarsigner tool has an option for requesting a signed time stamp from a Time Stamping Authority (TSA).
-parameters option of the javac command can be used to store formal parameter names and enable the Reflection API to retrieve formal parameter names.
javac command.
javac tool now has support for checking the content of javadoc comments for issues that could lead to various problems, such as invalid HTML or accessibility issues, in the files that are generated when javadoc is run. The feature is enabled by the new -Xdoclint option. For more details, see the output from running "javac -X". This feature is also available in the javadoc tool, and is enabled there by default.
javac tool now provides the ability to generate native headers, as needed. This removes the need to run the javah tool as a separate step in the build pipeline. The feature is enabled in javac by using the new -h option, which is used to specify a directory in which the header files should be written. Header files will be generated for any class which has either native methods, or constant fields annotated with a new annotation of type java.lang.annotation.Native.
javadoc tool supports the new DocTree API that enables you to traverse Javadoc comments as abstract syntax trees.
javadoc tool supports the new Javadoc Access API that enables you to invoke the Javadoc tool directly from a Java application, without executing a new process. See the javadoc what's new page for more information.
javadoc tool now has support for checking the content of javadoc comments for issues that could lead to various problems, such as invalid HTML or accessibility issues, in the files that are generated when javadoc is run. The feature is enabled by default, and can also be controlled by the new -Xdoclint option. For more details, see the output from running "javadoc -X". This feature is also available in the javac tool, although it is not enabled by default there.
URLPermission is now used to allow connections back to the server from which they were started. SocketPermission is no longer granted.
Date-Time Package - a new set of packages that provide a comprehensive date-time model.
SelectorProvider implementation for Solaris based on the Solaris event port mechanism. To use, run with the system property java.nio.channels.spi.Selector set to the value sun.nio.ch.EventPortSelectorProvider.
<JDK_HOME>/jre/lib/charsets.jar file
java.lang.String(byte[], *) constructor and the java.lang.String.getBytes() method.
java.net.URLPermission has been added.
java.net.HttpURLConnection, if a security manager is installed, calls that request to open a connection require permission.
java.util.concurrent package.
java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap class to support aggregate operations based on the newly added streams facility and lambda expressions.
java.util.concurrent.atomic package to support scalable updatable variables.
java.util.concurrent.ForkJoinPool class to support a common pool.
java.util.concurrent.locks.StampedLock class has been added to provide a capability-based lock with three modes for controlling read/write access.
UseAES and UseAESIntrinsics flags are available to enable the hardware-based AES intrinsics for Intel hardware. The hardware must be 2010 or newer Westmere hardware.
Note: AES intrinsics are only supported by the Server VM.
For example, to enable hardware AES, use the following flags:
-XX:+UseAES -XX:+UseAESIntrinsics
To disable hardware AES use the following flags: -XX:-UseAES -XX:-UseAESIntrinsics