Rick Hillegas <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > You are right. The compiler won't let you compile from Java 5 source > down to 1.4 classes. We would not be able to use Java 5 features in > our old code. However, using the Java 5 compiler would make the > following possible: > > 1) Optional optimizations of engine code to take advantage of features > introduced by later VMs. > > 2) New tools which take advantage of extensions added in later > versions of Java. E.g., JMX-based tools--JMX is included in J2SE from > version 5.0 on. > > 3) Tests which verify that user code, built under later versions of > Java, plays well when it runs inside Derby functions and procedures.
I'm +1 to this. I have added some 1.5 code by piggybacking on the optional jdk16 target and setting source level to 1.5, which works, but I think it is cleaner to require a Java 5 compiler. Unless there is a major development platform that lacks a Java 5 compiler (I'm not aware of any), I think you should go for it! -- Knut Anders
