Source Compatibility

The J2SE 1.4 is upwards source-compatible with earlier versions, except for the incompatibilities listed below. This means that, except for the noted incompatibilities, source files written to use the language features and APIs defined for earlier releases can be compiled and run in the J2SE 1.4.

Downward source compatibility is not supported. If source files use new language features or Java 2 Platform APIs, they will not be usable with an earlier version of the Java platform.

In general, the policy is:

• Maintenance releases do not introduce any new language features or APIs, so they maintain source-compatibility in both directions.

• Functionality releases and major releases maintain upwards but not downwards source-compatibility.

Deprecated APIs are methods and classes that are supported only for backwards compatibility, and the compiler will generate a warning message whenever one of these is used, unless the -nowarn command-line option is used. It is recommended that programs be modified to eliminate the use of deprecated methods and classes, though there are no current plans to remove such methods and classes entirely from the system.

Some APIs in the sun.* packages have changed. These APIs are not intended for use by developers. Developers importing from sun.* packages do so at their own risk. For more details, see Why Developers Should Not Write Programs That Call sun.* Packages at http://java.sun.com/products/jdk/faq/faq-sun-packages.html.