[eclipse-dev] Eclipse + Java 8 : Early Access Release III available - 45

[Srikanth S Adayapalam <srikanth_sankaran@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Greetings,

Eclipse team is pleased to announce the availability of early 
access release builds with much improved support for
Java 8.

What is new in this release ?

        - JDT/Core and
JDT/APT modules are feature complete for Java 8.
        - Full support
for Java 8 type inference specification.
        - Lambda Serialization
support.
        - Improved support
for Java 8 in JDT/UI and JDT/Debug
        - Numerous defect
fixes.

Defects/Issues fixed since EAR II can be seen here:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/buglist.cgi?bug_status=RESOLVED&bug_status=VERIFIED&bug_status=CLOSED&chfield=resolution&chfieldfrom=2013-12-21&chfieldto=Now&classification=Eclipse&component=APT&component=Core&component=Debug&component=Doc&component=Text&component=UI&list_id=8112197&product=JDT&query_format=advanced&target_milestone=BETA%20J8

What is ready to be tested ?
           
    
        Compiler, editor,
reconciler, formatter, code completion engine,
      code navigation support, incremental
builder, search engine
        annotation processor
framework, Java model, AST APIs etc
      should be fully functional.

        308 annotations
based null analysis capability.

        Basic UI infrastructure
like the Java related views, 
      Java Compiler compliance settings,
Organize Imports, Mark Occurrences, 
      Open Declaration (F3), Edit >
Expand Selection To > ..., 
      Content Assist (Ctrl+Space),
Formatting, and Source Actions etc should 
      work correctly in most situations
when you start using them with Java 8
      constructs. 

What work is still pending ?

        Advanced UI features
like Quick Fixes (Ctrl+1 or via problem hover), 
      Clean Ups and Refactorings should
work fine for Java 7 features but 
      may fail on new language constructs.
Work on these capabilities exists
      in an evolved form in the private
branches of committers and are in
      the process of being reviewed,
tested and integrated.

        We do know of
a bunch of open issues in debug support - This is also
      being actively worked on. 

Feature complete != bug free 

        Known problems
that are in the reckoning for inclusion into the GA release can be seen
here:

https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/buglist.cgi?bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&classification=Eclipse&component=APT&component=Core&component=Debug&component=Doc&component=Text&component=UI&list_id=8112241&product=JDT&query_format=advanced&target_milestone=BETA%20J8


Feature complete != exhaustively tested.

        This is where
you come in ! We request your active participation in this 45 day beta
program
leading up to high quality support for Java 8 in your
favorite IDE. Thanks in advance.

Anticipated question: My project won't upgrade to
Java 8 anytime soon, should I be testing ?

        Absolutely ! Major
subsystems of the compiler have undergone significant rework
to support Java 8. So if you plan to use Luna (into
which stream Java 8 support would be
merged at GA) even if only to develop 1.5 code you
should test to make sure that there
are no perturbation in your development.

Installation instructions & Java 8 support release
plan leading up to GA are 
available here: 

    https://wiki.eclipse.org/JDT/Eclipse_Java_8_Support_(BETA)


Happy testing,
Thanks!
Srikanth.