The Oracle (formerly Sun) Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE or JSE) allows you to develop and deploy Java applications on desktops and servers as well embedded and real-time environments. The Java Development Kit (JDK) contains the essential compiler, tools, runtime libraries, and APIs for developers writing, deploying, and running applets and applications in the Java programming language. The Java Runtime Environment (JRE) contains the runtime libraries and tools for running applets and applications.

Changes

The footprint of signed JAR files was reduced. Caching of network content for application code running in Web Start mode is now enabled by default. Handling of content with gzip encoding was improved. Several other minor improvements and bugfixes were made. Olson time zone data was updated to version 2011.

URL: Java SE Overview - at a Glance