13 February 2009, 10:12

Beta Release of Java 6, Update 14

Sun Microsystems has released a "binary snapshot" release of Java 6, Update 14, a week after the release of Update 12 of Java 6. The new release is a first beta of the next functional update of Java 6. Update 13, not yet released, is to be a "Synchronised Security Release" (SSR), which will address security issues only.

Update 14 has over 200 fixes so far. Some features appear to have been back ported from JDK7 development, such as the G1 Garbage-First PDF garbage collector, allowing dynamic languages to load anonymous classes and the HotSpot 14 virtual machine. Other improvements include an optimisation of the BigDecimal and TreeMap/HashMap classes and better performance for JavaFX and Swing.