Java Features

Things on this page are fragmentary and immature notes/thoughts of the author. Please read with your own judgement!

1. #String in Switch

Java 7 allows use of strings in switch instead of just integers, which make things much more convenient (see the following example).

public void foo(Foo t) {
    String name = t.getName();
        switch (name) {
        case John:
            ...
            break;
        case Jackie:
            ...
            break;
        case Ben:
            ...
            break;
        default:
            break;
    }
}

In the above program, the variable name is always compared to John, Jackie and Ben using the String.equals method.

2. #Better Way to Handle Exceptions

Java 7 has a better way to handle exceptions

3. #Auto Resource Management

4. #Infinity in Float Computing

Java support “infinity” in float computing, for example Math.log(0) return $-\infty$ in Java.

5. Unavailable Features Seen in Other Languages¶

As a compiled language, Java does not support variant number of parameters and default parameters directly, but this is totally unnecessary in Java since Java allows overriding functions. The only inconvenient place is the main function in Java. The main method cannot be override, so you must use its argument args of type String[] to parse input arguments passed to the main function. This is not as convenient as varadic template in C++11.