Following the 1996 launch of Java 1, subsequent releases had the nomenclature of 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, and 1.4. With the release of 1.5, the Java platform was referred to as Java 5. Frequent updates were released for Java 5 until Java 6 was released followed by Java 7, Java 8, and Java 9.
The following table provides a condensed view of the Java release history until Java 9:
| Release Name | Version | Year Released | Code Name |
| Java 1 | 1.0 | 1996 | Oak |
| Java 1.1 | 1.1 | 1997 | (Abigail, Brutus, Chelsea) |
| Java 2 | 1.2 | 1998 | Playground |
| Java 3 | 1.3 | 2000 | Kestrel |
| Java 4 | 1.4 | 2002 | Merlin |
| Java 5 | 1.5 | 2004 | Tiger |
| Java 6 | 1.6 | 2006 | Mustang |
| Java 7 | 1.7 | 2011 | Dolphin |
| Java 8 | 1.8 | 2014 | Spider |
| Java 9 | 9 | 2017 | *Code names no longer used |
The release of Java 9 was a significant change to the Java platform and how each of the versions was numbered. With the post-Java 9 releases, Oracle decided to abandon their feature-based model, opting for a time-released model instead.