Using Java 5 Features in Older JDKs
BlueVoodoo writes "Java 5 added a number of powerful language features: generics, enumerations, annotations, autoboxing, and the enhanced for loop. Even if you're stuck on JDK 1.4, you can still use generics. Use Java and theory to learn how."
I've worked in a an environment where 1.4 and lower is mandatory. This was down to management believing that 1.5 was too new and 'untested' even though Sun obviously thought it production worthy.
:)
These kind of people would be very scared if you tried to write code using 1.5, recompile the byte code using some new-ish open source toolkits and then putting it in to production. Then again, you could do it without telling anyone.
Java 1.6 is out now. 1.5 is so, like, last year.
I'm the current maintainer for Retroweaver and the article does not mention all the Retroweaver features:
...
Annotations are supported, the concurrent backport is used for the concurrent packages, runtime classes can provide support for new features or replace classes entirely,
I suppose the article is based on the 1.2.5 version and not the beta version(s). I guess I followed the Google model of having a really long beta cycle with a stable product...
Seeing the possible confusion with the Beta tag, I just decided to release the official 2.0 version earlier today.
Xavier