On Sep 17, 5:51 pm, Reinier Zwitserloot <reini...@gmail.com> wrote: > Alex, 'source' simply acknowledges that java (the language) syntax and > java (the runtime library) dependencies are utterly unrelated things.
Incorrect. Language features often rely on library features. See http://blogs.sun.com/abuckley/en_US/entry/versioning_in_the_java_platform for examples. > Why MUST they track each other? In practice that already doesn't > happen: Code compiled on javac6 is routinely run on jvm5, and vice > versa. javac has -source and -target parameters for a reason. javac6 can emit ClassFiles for jvm5 precisely because no source language changes happened in java6. javac5 can emit ClassFiles for jvm6 because Sun's compatibility policy generally prohibits the removal of features from jvm_n in jvm_n+1. This discussion precisely demonstrates my earlier point. Some people don't merely suggest a language feature; they demand a detailed interactive discussion with Sun on the feature. Luckily, I can short- circuit this one because I wrote a detailed and closely related blog entry. But there are millions of people with suggestions, and no company in the world has enough employees to address each and every one. Alex --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "The Java Posse" group. To post to this group, send email to javaposse@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to javaposse+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/javaposse?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
