alt Hacker NewsThe Java language and runtime have been co-designed as a unified platform for many years now. Virtually every significant feature has language, library, and VM people working on it, and we often don't even know when we start how much of the feature would be in the language, library, or VM. Consequently, there is no "language version" or a "runtime version". There's only a platform version, which is defined in a single spec approved by the JCP (https://openjdk.org/projects/jdk/27/spec/). This also makes things easier with regards to compatibility and evolution.
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> There's only a platform version,
And of the 4 non-preview JSRs in the Java 27 release, only 1 of them is actually part of the "platform version".
The other 3 are strictly changes to Hotspot internals with no platform involvement at all. They did not change any aspect of any Java platform in any way whatsoever. That is what I'm referring to. I'm not referring to the fact that the core library, language syntax, and runtime specs are all part of the same version. I'm referring to the fact that Hotspot specific behaviors and adjustments are also branded as being part of the platform release.
Like there's no Java 27 platform spec that says that G1 is the default garbage collector. That would of course be an absurd platform spec change. But that is still somehow a "feature" of the Java 27 release according to Oracle.
I wish there was a canonical write up on the governance of "java" and its history, it has changed a lot over the years (not just once I guess) and has a lot of fine prints. I find it hard to understand the hidden reasons and behind-the-scenes conflicts/compromises. There could probably be a whole book about this I guess.