Does java version "1.6.0_65" equivocate to java 6?

Question

On OS X (10.6.8) and in terminal:

java -version

returns

java version "1.6.0_65"

Is this actually Java 6?

I'm guessing that the version of Java in 10.6.8 is at least relatively current.

I'm asking because of planning to install jMeter.

Yes. Java versions 1.x.* are often shortened to just version x. — resueman, Aug 14 '14 at 21:12
Yup, it sure does. Since Java 1.5/5 they changed the naming convention. — Kayaman, Aug 14 '14 at 21:12
Wikipedia has a fairly thorough article on [Java version history](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_version_history). — Daniel Pryden, Aug 14 '14 at 21:13
Thanks, Daniel. That clears up the question I regret asking. Will be less hasty next time. — MikeiLL, Aug 15 '14 at 17:50

score 2 · Answer 1 · answered Aug 14 '14 at 21:19

2

Yes, 1.6.x is Java 6.

As to whether 1.6.0_65 can be considered "relatively current", yes and no. It's a relatively current release of Java 6 (see the history). However, Java 6 itself dates back to 2006 and is two generations old.

answered Aug 14 '14 at 21:19

NPE

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score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Aug 14 '14 at 21:21

2

Starting from Java 1.2, Java started being called by the number after the decimal point. So, Java 1.2 was Java 2 and kept that name until version 1.5 at which point it was called Java 5. Then, 1.6.x was called Java 6.

1.7.x is called Java 7.

answered Aug 14 '14 at 21:21

baksoy

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Does java version "1.6.0_65" equivocate to java 6?

2 Answers2