Devoxx11: Java 7 toolbox

Project coin brought some minor improvements to the Java language. Most notably:

• easier generics:
  • diamond operator <>: less copy/paste thanks to smarter compiler
  • less warnings on vararg's
• easier error-handling:
  • multicatch: less copy/paste
  • 'try-with-resource' contstruct: automatic & correct closing and error handling
• consistency / clarity
  • Strings in Switch
  • numbers improvements:
    • direct binary format: 0b0101001
    • logical grouping of large number in sub-chunks: 123_435_576L --> java ignores the underscores.

IDE support

• Netbeans & Intellij have excellent support for Java 7
  • inline hints and refactorings are offered
  • batch refactorings throughout the 'inspect and transform' dialog
• Eclipse is somewhat lagging behind.