Compiling and Running Java Programs in Terminal

[r-senior]

This is the danger of old threads. Oracle JDK 1.6 will cease to get security updates from February 2013 and OpenJDK 6 will most likely follow soon after.

Unless you have a compelling need to support a legacy system, install and use OpenJDK 7.

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

Also watch out for the release of Java 1.8 due later this year.

[slickymaster]

This is the danger of old threads. Oracle JDK 1.6 will cease to get security updates from February 2013 and OpenJDK 6 will most likely follow soon after.

Unless you have a compelling need to support a legacy system, install and use OpenJDK 7.

sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

Also watch out for the release of Java 1.8 due later this year.

Absolutely right. Oracle Java SE Support Roadmap indicates that after February 2013, Oracle will no longer post updates of Java SE 6 to its public download sites. Existing Java SE 6 downloads already posted as of February 2013 will remain accessible in the Java Archive on Oracle Technology Network. Developers and end-users are encouraged to update to more recent Java SE versions that remain available for public download.

[KdotJ]

While this is true, it all depends on what you're doing. Many companies will stay on Java 6 for a long time. If you start writing code for Java 7, some of it will not compile on Java 6 due to new language features.

[r-senior]

That's true, and some places are even further behind. There is the -source option on javac though and the Maven compiler plugin accepts a similar parameter.

javac -source 1.6 MyOldClass.java

[KdotJ]

Good old maven lol. Its just like the python 2.x vs 3 problem... but people will eventually catch up.