Features

Extensions to the JVM, the Java language, and the Java SE API to support the implementation of dynamically-typed languages at performance levels near to that of the Java language itself

As specified in JSR 202, which was part of Java SE 6, and in the recently-approved maintenance revision of JSR 924, class files of version 51 (SE 7) or later must be verified with the typechecking verifier; the VM must not fail over to the old inferencing verifier.

A set of small language changes intended to simplify common, day-to-day programming tasks: Strings in switch statements, try-with-resources statements, improved type inference for generic instance creation ("diamond"), simplified varargs method invocation, better integral literals, and improved exception handling (multi-catch)

Modifications to the ClassLoader API and implementation to avoid deadlocks in non-hierarchical class-loader topologies

A method that frees the underlying resources, such as open files, held by a URLClassLoader

A lightweight fork/join framework, flexible and reusable synchronization barriers, transfer queues, concurrent linked double-ended queues, and thread-local pseudo-random number generators

Upgrade the supported version of Unicode to 6.0

Upgrade the java.util.Locale class to support IETF BCP 47 (Tags for Identifying Languages) and UTR 35 (Local Data Markup Language)

Upgrade the handling of locales to separate formatting locales from user-interface language locales

New APIs for filesystem access, scalable asynchronous I/O operations, socket-channel binding and configuration, and multicast datagrams

A fully-functional and supported NIO.2 filesystem provider for zip and jar files

An implementation-specific API for the Stream Control Transmission Protocol on Solaris

Implementation-specific support for reliable, high-performance network streams over Infiniband connections on Solaris and Linux

Upgrade the networking code to use the Windows Vista IPv6 stack, when available, in preference to the legacy Windows stack

Add support for Transport Layer Security version 1.2 (RFC 5246)

A portable implementation of the standard Elliptic Curve Cryptographic (ECC) algorithms, so that all Java applications can use ECC out-of-the-box

Upgrade to JDBC 4.1 and Rowset 1.1

A new Java2D graphics pipeline based upon the X11 XRender extension, which provides access to much of the functionality of modern GPUs

Create new platform APIs for features originally implemented in the 6u10 release: Translucent and shaped windows, and heavyweight/lightweight component mixing

A next-generation cross-platform look-and-feel for Swing

Add the SwingLabs JXLayer component decorator to the platform

Drop the old, proprietary, encumbered sound synthesizer in favor of Gervill, a synthesizer created as a proposal for the Audio Synthesis Engine Project

Upgrade the components of the XML stack to the most recent stable versions: JAXP 1.4, JAXB 2.2a, and JAX-WS 2.2

Enhancements to the existing com.sun.management MBeans to report the recent CPU load of the whole system, the CPU load of the JVM process, and to send JMX notifications when GC events occur (this feature previously included an enhanced JMX Agent, but that was dropped due to lack of time)

Enhancements to the Java language and virtual-machine specifications to support modular programming, at both compile time and run time

An extension to the Java annotation syntax to permit annotations on any occurrence of a type

Literal expressions for immutable lists, sets, and maps, and indexing-access syntax for lists and maps

Lambda expressions (informally, "closures") and defender methods for the Java programming language

A simple, low-level module system focused upon the goal of modularizing the JDK, and the application of that system to the JDK itself

An API to define the basic structure of a typical Swing application, thereby eliminating lots of boilerplate code and providing a much-improved initial developer experience

Add the SwingLabs JXDatePicker component to the platform