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Java 5.0 language changes were good ?

After listening to JavaPosse Episode 79, I realised that I wasn't the only one to think that the new Java 5.0 language features are scary and challenging.

The section was called "Were the Java 5 features a bad idea?" and the related links are :

Shai's Weblog : Java 5.0 languages features were a bad idea
JavaLobby: Java 5.0 language features
ServerSide: Autoboxing and NPE

My knowledge is still around Java 1.3.x level, and I'm learning slowly about the new features. Asserts look like a good Java 1.4/5.0 addition.
The Java 5.0 additions that look good to me are :
- for each syntax - handy and I wonder if faster due to the compiler knowing the bounds and not needing the array bounds checking ?
  • Enums - they look really useful
  • printf format - looks really good and powerful, better than the C one
  • StringBuilder
  • more robust collection framework
not sure about
  • boxing/unboxing - although at first glance looks okay
  • generics - looks horrible & as complicated as C++ templates :-)
  • Metadata - not sure what they are used for
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Comments

Christian Ullenboom said…
I think Annotations are best new thing in Java 5. One of the worst is the static import. Generics are OK, but overrated. Enums are nice too, printf()/String.format() and Varargs are very useful.
12 December 2007 at 22:06
Lee said…
I don't think I've seen the static import yet. I agree with the rest, they seem very useful.
4 January 2008 at 04:34
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