Is each version of Java a seperate program?

[Avarice]

I noticed Java 1.7 has been the recommended version for a while now, is there a quick way to upgrade from Oracle Java 1.6 to 1.7 of do I download and install version 1.7 like a new program?

[JRD]

You can install Java 7 while still having JRE 6 installed. You can have both installed.

[Shador]

The default version is made retrievable through /etc/profile.d/jdk.sh resp. jre.sh.

[Avarice]

Thanks for the advice guy, I just installed version 1.7.