[java-dev] java version question

> My question, though -- should I make both a 1.4 and a 1.5 version  
> available, or just distribute the 1.4-compiled version?  Obviously  
> I'm not using any 1.5-specific features, but are there any other  
> advantages to using a 1.5-compiled version?

Java 1.5 is pretty universal these days (now that OS X has caught up)  
so everything I'm doing targets 1.5, and uses 1.5 libraries and  
language features.

As Emmanuel says, the JVM is backwards compatible regarding bytecode  
format, so 1.4 code will run on a 1.5 JVM, and if you're happy  
sticking with 1.4 there shouldn't be any problems. (If you decide to  
generate 1.4 code with a 1.5 JDK to target 1.4 systems, you might  
want to make sure you aren't relying on 1.5-specific bits of the API.)

	-- N.


   nick rothwell -- composition, systems, performance -- http:// 
www.cassiel.com