Fun using Java 5 at work

Where I work currently (and the precise company is none of your business) most of the Java code is written in Java 1.4. As the company uses systems for years they realised that to get the benefits of newer technology, if the technology is viable then they should start using it once it is beta tested. As Java 5 compilers can compile Java 1.4 code they therefore decided that all new code should be written to Java 5 standards. This means using Generics in collections, to get compiler time safe collections, and enumerations instead of lots of final static variables for constants. This means my summer of looking at Java 5 has not be wasted as I automatically uses features such as StringBuilder and Generics.

Other companies however think such an approach is risky as they need to check that everything works together, and so have to develop using legacy compilers i.e Java 1.1.8. The other problem is internal politics- it is hard explaining to someone who has found that a feature of Office 2003 is not compatible with an older version, that a newer compiler is compatiable with an older one depending what you do.

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