On 1/14/15 4:38 AM, sebb wrote:
> On 14 January 2015 at 08:18, Martin Grotle Soukup
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> My two cents in favour of java 8:
>>
>> IIUC the next major release will break backwards compatibility and aims to
>> clean up the API. Taking a look at the release frequency of commons math
>> [1], it shows releases every 9-12 months (give or take). Given that the
>> next big release is a major one (4.0), this indicate that a release in 2016
>> is a more likely target than in 2015.
>>
>> It might be the case that people use java 6 or 7 today, but the picture
>> might be a different one a year from now.
> Does Java 8 offer any benefits to the user?
No one has said much about this. Could be some APIs could be
expressed better, but no one has provided any examples.
>
> i.e. if CM is released for Java 7 or Java 6 would that impact on
> people running Java 8?
No, unless they want to see language features used that are not used.
>
> As a comparison, libraries that have not been updated to Java 5
> generics do make a difference to Java 5+ users.
> But enhanced for loops have no direct impact on the user.
There are really three things to think about when deciding whether
to require JDK x+
1. Are there things you can't do / express without JDK x?
2. Does requiring JDK x+ cut out a large portion of the user base?
3. Are there a lot of things that are easier / simpler / more fun
to implement in JDK x+?
Items 1. and 3. really impact developers and contributors; but being
too far out in 2. can indirectly influence that as well. We went
for a long time requiring only 1.5 because there really was nothing
material for [math] in 1. and 3. included only a few things (most
commonly the compat bug I introduced in 3.4.1 due to missing array
copy, which is something we do a lot in [math]).
I think Martin's point on timing is a good one. The last time I
looked at stats, the thundering herd was still 6-7. Could be by the
time we actually cut 4.0, that will have changed.
It would be great though if someone could give some positive reasons
that JDK 8+ features really help us. I am still in the 7 camp, due
to where the users are now; but if there are compelling 1. or 3.
things, I would be OK bumping to 8.
Phil
>
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