Download Oracle Java 8 Update 40

Oracle has released an update to version 8.0 of both the Java Standard Edition development kit and runtime environment. Normally there will also be an update of version 7 at the same time, but that is not the case this time. An update will be released in April, but after that version 7 will be permanently retired. In version 8 update 40 we also find several new features in addition to the usual series of bug fixes and security updates. The main ones can be found below.

Here are some features and changes including JavaFX updates:

• JVM Reaction to Memory Pressure: “Memory pressure” is a property that represents the total memory usage (RAM) on the system. This new feature can be leveraged to reduce the amount of memory used on a system where multiple JVMs are deployed and control the amount of memory designated to be consumed by each JVM, avoiding Out of Memory Errors (OOMEs) from occurring.
• Improvements to the native packager: Enables developers to create native-feel applications that do not require clients to have an existing Java Runtime installed. These self-contained applications can then be deployed into areas like the Mac app store. The application developer has full control over the runtime and application entry points.
• Ability to modernize the JavaFX stack on Mac OS X: The JavaFX media stack has been ported on Mac OS X from QTKit and Quicktime, which have been deprecated, to the newer AVFoundation framework. With this, developers using the JavaFX media stack can now gain Mac App Store acceptance and have the opportunity to have their applications released on the Mac App Store.
• Nashorn Support: Numerous Nashorn optimizations including support for dynamic languages ​​are incorporated into this release. Also added is a Nashorn Class Filter, which provides fine-grained control over access to Java classes from JavaScript code via a new filtering interface.
• New Time Zone Date Updater Tool: This tool can consume the ‘raw’ time zone data (tzdata) rules from the IANA time zone registry database and convert those to the necessary format required by the JRE. This provides users with the ability to immediately update the JDK/JRE time zone rules with the latest updates from IANA.

Find out more details in the release notes