As of java 1.7 the java language specification allows integer literals to contain underscores in order to make them more readable. If it is applied in a good way it can enormously increase the readability of your code.
In java 1.6 one had to define integer literals like this:
int iterations = 10000000; long bytes = 0b11010010011010011001010010010010;
With java 1.7 such integer literals can be written more readably by using the underscore as a thousands separators.
int iterations = 10_000_000;
or when using binary literals one can use the underscores to group bytes
long bytes = 0b11010010_01101001_10010100_10010010;
Further information can be found at
- http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/technotes/guides/language/underscores-literals.html
- http://docs.oracle.com/javase/specs/jls/se7/html/jls-3.html#jls-3.10.1