Union and intersection types in Java

Ceylon has union and intersection types at the heart of its type system. Ironically, there is something in Java resembling these powerful concepts, but only in specialized niche contexts and not as “first class citizens” of the type system:

1. Something like intersection types can be used in generic type boundary declarations (since Java 1.5)
2. Something like union types can be declared in try-catch blocks that use the multi-catch feature (since Java 1.7)

Interestingly, the Java language engineers used the & and | operators, just like Ceylon. But I have found no evidence so far that they are considering expanding these concepts to the Java type system in general or even let Java developers use them freely in all type declarations …

Update Oct/2012: At JavaOne, I asked Brian Goetz about this. He said that the Java Language team at Oracle has no intention to add additional support – beyond the niches mentioned above – for Union or Intersection types to Java in the foreseeable future.