We discussed requiring Java 8 previously and decided to remain Java 7-compatible, but at the time we were planning to release 3.0 before Java 7 EOL. Now that 8099 and increased emphasis on QA have delayed us past Java 7 EOL, I think it's worth reopening this discussion.
If we require 8, then we can use lambdas, LongAdder, StampedLock, Streaming collections, default methods, etc. Not just in 3.0 but over 3.x for the next year. If we don't, then people can choose whether to deploy on 7 or 8 -- but the vast majority will deploy on 8 simply because 7 is no longer supported without a premium contract with Oracle. 8 also has a more advanced G1GC implementation (see CASSANDRA-7486). I think that gaining access to the new features in 8 as we develop 3.x is worth losing the ability to run on a platform that will have been EOL for a couple months by the time we release. -- Jonathan Ellis Project Chair, Apache Cassandra co-founder, http://www.datastax.com @spyced
