Java EE 7 (JSR-342) is final

With some lateness, the specification for Java EE 7 (JSR 342) went final today, about three years after the release of Java EE 6. Without cloud features and a caching API, it comes with a big support for building HTML5 applications in form of WebSocket 1.0, JSON, JAX-RS 2.0 and JSF 2.2, provides a programming model for batch applications with the new Batch API and offers higher productivity due to richer functionality and more defaults.
Now, we have to wait for Glassfish 4, the reference implementation of Java EE 7, which is currently scheduled for Q2 2013.

This is a list of some main changes of the Java EE 7 specification with some summarizing links:

• EJB 3.2 (https://blogs.oracle.com/arungupta/entry/what_s_new_in_ejb)
• Servlet 3.1 (http://de.slideshare.net/arungupta1/servlet31)
• JMS 2.0 (http://j0hnk.github.io/blog/2013/01/06/jms-2-dot-0/)
• JAX-RS 2.0  (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/articles/java/jaxrs20-1929352.html)
• WebSocket 1.0(http://de.slideshare.net/arungupta1/websocket-10)
• Concurrency Utilities for Java EE 1.0 (http://java.dzone.com/articles/modern-concurrency-and-java-ee)
• JSF 2.2 (http://jdevelopment.nl/jsf-22/)
• Bean Validation 1.1 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5L5HA4SFNvY)
• CDI 1.1 (http://relation.to/18757.lace)