After avoiding Java for years, I got back to it and found it more useful, thanks to features introduced in version 1.5 and 1.6 of the language. But how much are these features actually used? My impression of Java projects and programmers is, that most are stuck at 1.4 for several reasons, but I might be wrong. Are there any popularity measures, which Java versions are actually used? For instance has anyone done up to date statistics of open source projects? Analyzing the revision control systems, you could even analyze how fast new Java features got adopted.
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There probably are some stats around, but from personal experience I’d say that there are very few 1.4 projects left. 1.5(6) has been heavily adopted and the usage of Generics, AutoBoxing, etc heavily adopted. Most especially generics.