Release 1.6.0 of the Checker Framework and Type Annotations compiler

[Jonathan Burke]

We have released a new version of the Type Annotations (JSR 308) compiler,

the Checker Framework, and the Eclipse plugin for the Checker Framework.

 * The Type Annotations compiler supports the type annotation syntax that is

   planned for a future version of the Java language.

 * The Checker Framework lets you create and/or run pluggable type-checkers,

   in order to detect and prevent bugs in your code.  

 * The Eclipse plugin makes it more convenient to run the Checker Framework.

You can find documentation and download links for these projects at:

http://types.cs.washington.edu/jsr308/

Changes for the Checker Framework

User-visible framework improvements:

  It is possible to use enum constants in stub files without requiring the

    fully qualified name, as was previously necessary.

  Support build on a stock Java 8 OpenJDK.

Adapt to underlying jsr308-langtools changes.

  Most visible change is syntax for fully-qualified types, from

  @A java.lang.Object to java.lang.@A Object.

  Checker Framework does not build or run on JDK 6.

Documentation:

  A new tutorial is available at

    http://types.cs.washington.edu/checker-framework/tutorial/

Changes for the Type Annotations Compiler

Implements the current Type Annotations (JSR 308) specification,

see file jsr308-changes.html for details:

- Completely changed bytecode representation

- Annotations in lambda expressions not stored in bytecode yet

Base build

  Updated to OpenJDK 8 tl/langtools and type-annotations/langtools

  as of 31 Jan 2013.

  No longer builds or runs on JDK6