On Fri, Jan 18, 2013 at 8:08 AM, Simon Ochsenreither <
[email protected]> wrote:

> The point I'm making is that the decision whether something gets the
> “official” treatment or is merged in behind the curtains seems to be driven
> more by marketing aspects and less so by technical aspects.


There are a lot of aspects that impact the decision of adding a feature to
the JDK but I haven't seen a shred of evidence that "marketing" is one of
them. Some of the aspects I have observed first hand:

   - *Technical*. Obviously, the complexity of that feature should weigh
   heavily on the decision to include it. Compilers are very complex beasts
   that are hard to keep clean under the covers.
   - *Design*. Is the feature a good fit for the language? Does it play
   well with the other features?
   - *Backward compatibility*. Breaking existing users is a non-starter.
   How much work is required to maintain backward compatibility with this
   feature?
   - *Schedule*. What's the impact of adding this feature on the release
   schedule?
   - *Technical quorum*. Are there any experts strongly opposing such a
   feature? If yes, are their concerns valid?
   - *Usefulness*. Does the feature fix a big gap in the language? What
   percentage of existing users will be helped by this feature? How many will
   be negatively impacted?
   - *Public support*. Do a lot of existing users ask for such a feature?

Just to name a few.

-- 
Cédric

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