Java SE versions history

Details: Last Updated on 30 March 2024 | Print Email

This article gives you an overview of all Java versions throughout its history, for Java Standard Edition (SE) Development Kit (JDK), from the first version to the latest one till date.

The latest version of Java is Java 22 or JDK 22 released on March, 19th 2024 (follow this article to check Java version on your computer). JDK 22 is a regular update of Java SE platform. And JDK 21 is currently the latest long-term support release (LTS), replacing JDK 17 which is the previous LTS of the Java SE platform.

From the first version released in 1996 to the latest version JDK 22 available to the public since March 2024, the Java platform has been actively being developed for more than 28 years. Many changes and improvements have been made to the technology over the years. The following table summarizes all versions of Java SE from its early days to the latest.

Java SE Version

Version Number

Release Date

JDK 1.0

(Oak)

1.0

January 1996

JDK 1.1

1.1

February 1997

J2SE 1.2

(Playground)

1.2

December 1998

J2SE 1.3

(Kestrel)

1.3

May 2000

J2SE 1.4

(Merlin)

1.4

February 2002

J2SE 5.0

(Tiger)

1.5

September 2004

Java SE 6

(Mustang)

1.6

December 2006

Java SE 7

(Dolphin)

1.7

July 2011

Java SE 8

1.8

March 2014

Java SE 9

September, 21st 2017

Java SE 10

March, 20th 2018

Java SE 11

September, 25th 2018

Java SE 12

March, 19th 2019

Java SE 13

September, 17th 2019

Java SE 14

March, 17th 2020

Java SE 15

September, 15th 2020

Java SE 16

March, 16th 2021

Java SE 17

September, 14th 2021

Java SE 18

March, 22nd 2022

Java SE 19

September, 20th 2022

Java SE 20

March, 21st 2023

Java SE 21 (LTS)

September, 19th 2023

Java SE 22

March, 19th 2024

From the table above we can see that the naming and the version number have been changing over times:

Versions 1.0 and 1.1 are named as JDK (Java Development Kit).
From versions 1.2 to 1.4, the platform is named as J2SE (Java 2 Standard Edition).
From versions 1.5, Sun introduces internal and external versions. Internal version is continuous from previous ones (1.5 after 1.4), but the external version has a big jump (5.0 for 1.5). This could make confusion for someone, so keep in mind that version 1.5 and version 5.0 are just two different version names for only one thing.
From Java 6, the version name is Java SE X.

Major versions were released after every 2 years, however the Java SE 7 took 5 years to be available after its predecessor Java SE 6, and 3 years for Java SE 8 to be available to public afterward.

Since Java SE 10, new versions will be released very six months.

About the Author:

Nam Ha Minh is certified Java programmer (SCJP and SCWCD). He started programming with Java in the time of Java 1.4 and has been falling in love with Java since then. Make friend with him on Facebook and watch his Java videos you YouTube.