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Java 6 is out. And it's better than ever! :-)

I do think it's the best one ever. And the fastest ever. On one of my work projects, compiling Drools rule engine used to take over a minute, and with Java 6, this has been cut more than half. Nice improvement!

What are the exciting features in the new release?
- Scripting support
- Database enhancements (new DB embedded)
- Web Services support

In this article, Mustang Must-Haves (link below), the author gives a short and sweet intro to some of the nice features from the new release.

I have to dig a little deeper into the release. One thing that comes to mind: Web services. Writing one in Java 6 is a piece of cake. However, I still find writing a web service client, a necessary component, not so easy. I know I can use a project such as Axis2 to generate the files for me, but I don't think that's the cleanest solution. I probably don't know enough yet about the subject, but what's needed is a great simplification in creating the web services client. There is no easy way. (I tried creating a client in NetBeans: it's easy and it works, but behind the scenes it creates several classes, and besides, NetBeans is not really my IDE of choice.)

Reference
Mustang Must-Haves: What's Cool in Java SE 6, devx.com article