Java 7 (or Java 1.7, if you prefer that name) was launched last summer, with new / improved features including:

* switch on a String object
* try with resources allowing easier cleanup / reducing memory leak potential
* catch allowing multiple exceptions in the same block to avoid need to repair code
* throw allows you to change thrown object type within the catch block
* The file i/o mechanism has been reworked with programmers being heavily encourages toward java.nio rather than java.io
* Addition of support for walking a file tree, and for watching a file or tree for changes
* Unicode 6.0.0 support added, including within regular expressions
* Support for ISO4217 currency codes and updated locales
* Various enhancements to Swing and Java 2D
* Other enhancements relating to JDBC, Java DB, Java's use of XML, etc
* Changes to garbage collection and VM performance enhancements
There are more details on Oracle's site - [here].

Whilst none of these render old code inoperable, they do provide the Java programmer with new and easier ways of doing things than were previously available, which results in the gradual side-tracking of the older ways of doing the same thing. These changes take time to percolate through into production code, of course, because the developer need to be certain that his code will run on his customer's Virtual Machine, and customers (especially web server customers running Tomcat or similar) don't rush to upgrade.

Java 6 also had things added - see [here], and so did Java 5 [here]. And these little things add up. Of course, we've updated our training to mirror the extra (and nothing has been taken out from the base language) but there becomes a time where a radical rebuild or rewrite is necessary. And that point is rapidly approaching.

Java has moved on a long way since our first courses in the mid 1990s - in those days it was a niche (and we specialise in niches) and quite a compact language with a good range of libraries. Today that description wouldn't fit - Java is a complete system, a big language with a huge range of libraries and tentacles reaching into a vast number of different areas. And that creates a problem when providing training, in that everyone needs to learn an area of extras beyond the basics - but that area of extra will differ from customer to customer.

So - we have taken the decision that we'll not be offering public Java courses any more, and you won't find any dates listed on our web site. The course descriptions will remain in place, and for private customers with the right requirement that we can meet, we will still run courses. Java has simply changed, and whereas it was a natural string in our bow 10 years ago, that's no longer the case. So it's a good time for us to formally bow out of the Java market - to concentrate on the niches that we know so well and are keeping us more that busy - that's Lua, Ruby, Python, Perl, Tcl, C, C++ and PHP. And, yes, there are other niche languages that just may get added later this year.

Full course schedule at http://www.wellho.net/course/index.html

(written 2012-01-08, updated 2012-01-14)

 J050 - Java - General
  [2861] MySQL and Java - connectivity past, present, and future thoughts - (2010-07-09)
  [2504] Learning to program in ... - (2009-11-15)
  [2420] Exceptions in Java - why and how - (2009-09-24)
  [2417] Java Programming Fundamentals - (2009-09-24)
  [2114] Which Version of Java am I running? - (2009-04-02)
  [2091] C, C++ and C# ... Java and JavaScript - (2009-03-20)
  [2087] Comparing Java Courses - what can we do? - (2009-03-17)

G300 - Well House Consultants - Public Courses
  [3637] April, May and June 2012 - Public Open Source Programming Courses - (2012-03-04)
  [3559] Well House Consultants - Open Source Programming Courses for 2012 - (2011-12-21)
  [3528] December courses - PHP, Python, Perl - and a weekend Lua course - (2011-11-24)
  [3401] Open Source Training Schedule - learn a programming language - in Autumn 2011 or 2012 - (2011-08-20)
  [3365] Turning bright delegates into bright and knowledgable ones - (2011-07-21)
  [3358] Upcoming Programming courses ... High Summer, 2011 - (2011-07-15)
  [3219] How do I become a Linux System Administrator? - (2011-03-28)
  [3205] Open Source (Public) courses - PHP, Tcl, SQL, Python, C and C++ in Melksham, Wiltshire, UK - (2011-03-18)
  [3160] Extra courses - Advanced PHP, MySQL and Lua - (2011-02-07)
  [3129] Extra courses - C and C++ - (2011-01-12)
  [3078] Royal Wedding. How William and Catherine have changed our schedule - (2010-12-02)
  [3074] Running a course ... what if the tutor isn't well? - (2010-11-29)
  [3071] Well House Price list, January to March 2011 - (2010-11-25)
  [3021] Courses for late 2010 and early 2011 - (2010-10-30)
  [2965] Testimonials - Well House Consultants Open Source courses - (2010-09-21)
  [2942] Open Source Programming - Training Course Schedule - (2010-08-31)
  [2928] Public (scheduled) or private course? Book direct, or through a third party? - (2010-08-19)
  [2927] Announcing 2011 Open Source Training courses - dates and prices - (2010-08-18)
  [2881] Tailoring of courses to meet customers needs - how it works - (2010-07-21)
  [2839] Software versions used - June 2010 - (2010-06-30)
  [2736] Perl Course FAQ - (2010-04-23)
  [2558] Happy new decade - and course and hotel prices for 2010 - (2010-01-01)
  [2341] Koulutus, Open Source tietokone kielillä - (2009-08-09)
  [2340] ldning, Open Source dator språk - (2009-08-09)
  [2339] Opplæring, Open Source datamaskinen språk - (2009-08-09)
  [2338] Uddannelse, Open Source computer sprog - (2009-08-09)
  [2337] Opleiding, Open Source computertalen - (2009-08-09)
  [2336] Formação, Open Source computador línguas - (2009-08-09)
  [2335] Ausbildung, die Open-Source-Sprachen - (2009-08-09)
  [2334] Formazione, Open Source computer lingue - (2009-08-09)
  [2333] Formación, de los lenguajes de código abierto - (2009-08-09)
  [2332] Formation, des langages Open Source - (2009-08-09)
  [2048] Learning to program in PHP, Python, Java or Lua ... - (2009-02-19)
  [1968] Review of 2008 - (2008-12-31)
  [1929] 2009 - Hotel, Meeting, Training Course prices - (2008-12-07)
  [1857] November and December Public Course Schedule - (2008-10-27)
  [1836] Next in the sequence - courses next year (2009) - (2008-10-12)
  [1751] Public Training Course Dates until July 2009 - (2008-08-13)
  [1693] July to December 2008 - Open Source training schedule - (2008-07-01)
  [1615] PHP training courses every month - (2008-04-18)
  [1565] Languages compared - based on developer community size - (2008-03-05)
  [1420] The Learning Perl crew, October 2007 - (2007-11-03)
  [1414] What we teach - expained for the non-technical - (2007-10-28)
  [1035] Longer hours and better value courses - (2007-01-15)
  [933] Course Joining package - updated - (2006-11-20)
  [845] Course scheduling and Geekmas - are they traditions yet? - (2006-08-26)
  [646] PHP - London course, Melksham Course, Evening course - (2006-03-14)
  [387] Training course plans for 2006 - (2005-07-23)
  [181] Maximum number of trainees on a course - (2005-01-18)
  [172] Public courses in London - (2005-01-07)

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How to do multidimensional arrays (or rather lists and hashes) in Perl
Tcl - apparently odd behaviour of string trimleft
Multiple buttons calling the same proc in wish (tcl/tk)
Perl functions such as chop change their input parameters
New in Java 7 - and why we are not running public Java 7 courses
Adding Expect on top of Tcl - what is it and where can I get a training course to learn about it?
Comparing loop commands in Tcl
Trapping errors in Tcl - the safety net that catch provides
Images of the new year in Melksham
Telling which ServerAlias your visitor used - useful during merging domains