Which java jdk should i download

The standard edition is the core Java programming platform. It includes all of the core libraries and APIs that every Java programmer needs to be familiar with. For most developers especially those just getting started the standard edition is the most appropriate.

The enterprise edition includes everything found in the standard edition with some additional libraries providing functionality for large-scale enterprise environments. The enterprise edition emphasizes large, fault-tolerant, distributed apps which characterize an enterprise environment.

While EE is appropriate for big business and large scale projects, it's added functionality is not necessary for newcomers or individual developers looking to get their feet wet. The micro edition provides a subset of the functionality that comes with SE, however it includes some additional libraries specific to mobile development.

This edition is most appropriate for mobile device Java developers. Java 7 was originally launched in It remained the default download option from April to October and is still used widely today. Java 7 was most popular for improved type checking, improved type inference for generics , and JVM support for dynamic languages. Java 8 was released in and replaced Java 7 as the default recommended download.

Java 9 was released in and is the main publicly supported version of Java used today. Java 9 takes a more modular approach to programming as code is more clearly separated based on functionality. Additionally, Java 9 introduces JShell: a command line tool allowing you to run standalone Java code in an interactive shell for quick testing.

It also includes micro benchmarking allowing developers to measure performance of small pieces of code. It includes full support for HTTP 2. Java 10 was released in March of They do test with a suite of functional, integration, and performance tests. They also test popular framework libraries, languages, and applications. Amazon Corretto 8 based on Java 8 is in preview; there is no Java 11 build available. Corretto 11 is scheduled to be released in Q2 GA for Corretto 8 is Q1.

Corretto is unique in that it has no-cost long-term support from Amazon. Its builds have passed the TCK. Java 8 support is currently slated to run through June Azul builds and publishes Zulu at azul. Oracle builds and publishes OpenJDK builds at jdk. Binaries are only published for the first six months after a major release.

I used to download and install Java manually. The project aims to make it as easy as possible for you to install Java. If you run sdk install java , it installs Azul Zulu 8. This is because java. It works, and I love using it! However, I can only use Java 11 when working on Spring Boot 2. Les Hazlewood is a senior architect at Okta. Micah Silverman is a technical instructor at Okta.

This leads to two different Java distributions , which can be very confusing at first. OpenJDK builds by Oracle! OracleJDK , which is a branded, commercial build starting with the license change in Which means it can be used for free during development, but you need to pay Oracle if using it in production.

For this, you get longer support, i. But as of today, both versions are essentially the same, with minor differences. It then boils down to you wanting paid, commercial support a telephone number for your installed Java version. But make sure to check out the individual websites to learn about the advantages of each single distribution. Rafael Winterhalter compiled a great list of all available OpenJDK builds, including their OS, architecture, licensing, support and maintenance windows.

To re-iterate from the beginning, in , unless you have very specific requirements, go get your jdk. The same goes for all other Java versions in between. Which in turns means that all language features from Java 8 serve as very good Java base knowledge and everything else Java is pretty much additional features on top of that baseline.

Java 8 was a massive release and you can find a list of all features at the Oracle website. Before Java 8, whenever you wanted to instantiate, for example, a new Runnable, you had to write an anonymous inner class like so:.

You also got method references, repeating annotations, default methods for interfaces and a few other language features. A quick example:. Obviously, I can only give a quick overview of each newly added Stream, Lambda or Optional method in Java 8 in the scope of this guide. If you want a more detailed, thorough overview - including exercises - you can have a look at my Java 8 core features course. And a couple of other improvements, like an improved try-with-resources statement or diamond operator extensions.

Java 9 brought the initial preview version of a new HttpClient. With Java 9, Java got its own, modern client - although in preview mode, which means subject to change in later Java versions. It is not in the scope of this guide to go into full detail on Jigsaw, but have a look at the previous links to learn more.

Java 10, for example. Again, this is just a quick overview of Java 9 features and if you want more thorough explanations and exercises, have a look at the Java 9 core features course. There have been a few changes to Java 10, like Garbage Collection etc. But the only real change you as a developer will likely see is the introduction of the "var"-keyword, also called local-variable type inference.

It is still strongly typed, though, and only applies to variables inside methods thanks, dpash , for pointing that out again. Starting with Java 10, you can run Java source files without having to compile them first. A step towards scripting. Java 12 got a couple new features and clean-ups , but the only ones worth mentioning here are Unicode 11 support and a preview of the new switch expression, which you will see covered in the next section. You can find a complete feature list here , but essentially you are getting Unicode Switch expressions can now return a value.

There are now record classes, which help alleviate the pain of writing a lot of boilerplate with Java. Introduced as an experimental feature in Java 13 see above , multiline strings are now production-ready. This means that while the class is public , the only classes allowed to subclass Shape are Circle , Rectangle and Square.

The Records and Pattern Matching features from Java 14 see above , are still in preview and not yet finalized. Thanks for visiting DZone today,. Edit Profile. Sign Out View Profile. Over 2 million developers have joined DZone. Whether you are just starting to use Java, or have been using Java for years, switch over to the most recent version — it's as simple as that. Like Join the DZone community and get the full member experience. Join For Free. Conclusion If you are just starting to code in Java, then use the most recent version.

Written with the assistance of Donald Smith. Opinions expressed by DZone contributors are their own. Java Partner Resources.