CareerCup

its not that ridiculous becuase they want to know if you are keeping up with the new java enchancements. This is what is known as a "feel-out" question - they basically want to know if your studying the language that you are applying for. I am sure this is a standard question for other languagues also - like it this was a .Net role - then they would ask what are some of the newer improvements for .Net

This is a field were there is continous improvements going on

zaphod is correct about 1.4 to 5 there are more changes like the use of comparator(this is for creating custom sorts). anonymous - i have been in this field for about 3 years now and still feel like a jr. level developer, and thats what i am, it takes 5 to 8 years to really get java coding down to be looked at by sr. level developers as someone that is an expert or at least advanced - someone that they can count on to do more complex work with little asst. plus help train more jr. developers(this is very important if you see yourself moving forwrd - i have seen many developers not make it forward due to their soft skills). I posted these statements so that others will understand what to study for when intervewing. believe it or not, this is a standard question i have been asked by many different companies. This is a test to see, how much of the language you really understand. So studying the difference between the different versions is very improtant becuase one day you will be on a project that is upgrading from one version to the other and you need to know what are the differences.

@biggied88
You are right. Devs should keep learning and it is important to grow with the industry.
However, for some college hire or someone new to Java within 1 or 2 year, this question does not make a lot of sense, and it is because when they started using Java, it is already 1.5 or 1.6.