JDK 1.5, code-named Tiger, is an exciting change to the Java landscape. It introduces several major new facilities, such as generic types for better data structuring, metadata for annotating Java© classes in a flexible but well-defined manner, new pattern-based mechanisms for reading data, and a new mechanism for formatted printing. In addition, a much larger number of smaller but important changes add up to a new release that is a must for Java developers. It will be quite some time before these mechanisms are fully understood and in wide circulation, but you will want to know about them right away.

-JDK 1.5, code-named Tiger, is an exciting change to the Java landscape. It introduces several major new facilities, such as generic types for better data structuring, metadata for annotating Java©　classes in a flexible but well-defined manner, new pattern-based mechanisms for reading data, and a new mechanism for formatted printing. In addition, a much larger number of smaller but important changes add up to a new release that is a must for Java developers. It will be quite some time before these mechanisms are fully understood and in wide circulation, but you will want to know about them right away.