Java SE 8 enables enhanced developer productivity and significant application performance increases through reduced boilerplate code, improved collections and annotations, simpler parallel programming models and more efficient use of modern, multi-core processors. ? The key features of JDK 8 are Project Lambda (JSR 335), the Nashorn JavaScript Engine, a new Date and Time API (JSR 310), a set of Compact Profiles and the removal of the ?permanent generation? from the HotSpot Java Virtual Machine (JVM). ? Oracle JDK 8 has already achieved world record performance for 4 socket systems on NEC Intel-based servers and for 2 socket systems on Oracle SPARC T5 servers, with a performance improvement of 12 to 41 percent compared to JDK 7 on the same Oracle configuration (NEC benchmark details, Oracle benchmark details). ?