Oracle announced the availability of Java Platform, Standard Edition 7 Update 4 (Java SE 7 Update 4) and JavaFX 2.1.

This release marks Oracle’s first delivery of both the Java Development Kit (JDK) and JavaFX Software Development Kit (SDK) for Mac OS X.

Java developers can now download Oracle’s JDK, which includes the JavaFX SDK, for Mac OS X from the Oracle Technology Network (OTN).

Oracle plans to release a consumer version of Java SE 7, including the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) for Mac OS X later in 2012.

Java SE 7 Update 4

The Java SE 7 Update 4 JDK includes the next-generation Garbage Collection algorithm, Garbage First (G1), which has been eagerly anticipated by the Java developer community. G1 provides predictable garbage collection even for very large applications.

Oracle is continuing its work to merge the Oracle Java HotSpot JVM and the Oracle JRockit JVM into a converged offering that leverages the best features of each of these leading virtual machines.

Java SE7 Update 4 contains numerous performance enhancements to the JVM, which can also deliver a performance boost to Oracle Fusion Middleware products.

With the release of Java SE 7 Update 4, all of the performance enhancements available in Oracle JRockit have been merged into Oracle Java HotSpot and OpenJDK, the open source Java SE implementation.

Java SE 7 Update 4 is fully supported and recommended for use with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Java SE 7 Update 4 will be the first consumer release of the Java 7 JRE, scheduled to be made available as the default version on Java.com starting on May 1, 2012.

The OpenJDK Community continues to host the development of Java SE 7 on Mac OS X and JDK 8, the prototype reference implementation of Java SE 8. Oracle has also started the OpenJFX project as part of its plan to open source the JavaFX platform.

JavaFX 2.1

Rich client applications using JavaFX 2.1 are completely developed in Java. Customers and partners can leverage their existing knowledge of and investments in Java technologies to easily create modern, expressive graphical user interfaces and data visualizations in JavaFX.

JavaFX 2.1 introduces playback support for digital media stored in the MPEG-4 multimedia container format containing H.264/AVC video and Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) audio.

New WebView support for JavaScript to Java method calls, which allows a user to render HTML/JavaScript and allow JavaScript (in WebView) make calls to Java APIs to offload specific operations to Java.

The JavaFX 2.1 release adds enhanced font rendering for modern LCD displays with Windows-style LCD sub-pixel rendering.

Additional user interface enhancements in JavaFX 2.1 include: controls for combo box, stacked chart and application-wide menu bar.

JavaFX 2.1 is available now for Windows and Mac OS X. A developer preview for Linux is also available.