Java SE 6 vs. JRE 1.6 vs. JDK 1.6 - What do these mean?

Question

I see many different Java terms floating around. I need to install the JDK 1.6. It was my understanding that Java 6 == Java 1.6. However, when I install Java SE 6, I get a JVM that reports as version 11.0! Who can solve the madness?

Answer 1

When you type "java -version", you see three version numbers - the java version (on mine, that's "1.6.0_07"), the Java SE Runtime Environment version ("build 1.6.0_07-b06"), and the HotSpot version (on mine, that's "build 10.0-b23, mixed mode"). I suspect the "11.0" you are seeing is the HotSpot version.

Update: HotSpot is (or used to be, now they seem to use it to mean the whole VM) the just-in-time compiler that is built in to the Java Virtual Machine. God only knows why Sun gives it a separate version number.