FLINK-30442: Upgrading table walk-through to Flink 1.16

* [FLINK-30440] Updating README

* [FLINK-30442] Misc. version updates for table walk-through;

- Java 17 for data generator, Java 11 for Flink job
- Kafka client
- Also removing some dead code

* [FLINK-30422] Upgrading table walk-through to Flink 1.16
diff --git a/docker/data-generator/Dockerfile b/docker/data-generator/Dockerfile
index 124033c..1745a2d 100644
--- a/docker/data-generator/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/data-generator/Dockerfile
@@ -13,16 +13,16 @@
 # See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
 # limitations under the License.
 
-FROM maven:3.8-jdk-8-slim AS builder
+FROM maven:3.8-eclipse-temurin-17 AS builder
 
 # Get data producer code and compile it
 COPY ./src /opt/data-producer/src
 COPY ./pom.xml /opt/data-producer/pom.xml
 
 RUN cd /opt/data-producer; \
-    mvn clean install
+    mvn clean verify
 
-FROM openjdk:8-jre
+FROM eclipse-temurin:17
 
 COPY --from=builder /opt/data-producer/target/data-generator-*.jar /opt/data-generator.jar
 
diff --git a/docker/data-generator/pom.xml b/docker/data-generator/pom.xml
index 95ced48..ae9a683 100644
--- a/docker/data-generator/pom.xml
+++ b/docker/data-generator/pom.xml
@@ -39,13 +39,11 @@
 
     <properties>
         <project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-        <kafka.version>2.2.0</kafka.version>
-        <avro.version>1.8.2</avro.version>
-        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
-        <java.version>1.8</java.version>
+        <kafka.version>3.3.1</kafka.version>
+        <slf4j.version>1.7.36</slf4j.version>
+        <java.version>17</java.version>
         <spotless-maven-plugin.version>1.20.0</spotless-maven-plugin.version>
-        <maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
-        <maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
+        <maven.compiler.release>${java.version}</maven.compiler.release>
     </properties>
 
     <dependencies>
@@ -54,6 +52,16 @@
             <artifactId>kafka-clients</artifactId>
             <version>${kafka.version}</version>
         </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-api</artifactId>
+            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
+        <dependency>
+            <groupId>org.slf4j</groupId>
+            <artifactId>slf4j-simple</artifactId>
+            <version>${slf4j.version}</version>
+        </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <build>
@@ -62,11 +70,7 @@
             <plugin>
                 <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
                 <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                <version>3.1</version>
-                <configuration>
-                    <source>${java.version}</source>
-                    <target>${java.version}</target>
-                </configuration>
+                <version>3.10.1</version>
             </plugin>
 
             <!-- Shade plugin to include all dependencies -->
diff --git a/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/DataGenerator.java b/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/DataGenerator.java
index 250f2c5..d66b0f7 100644
--- a/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/DataGenerator.java
+++ b/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/DataGenerator.java
@@ -18,6 +18,7 @@
 
 package org.apache.flink.playground.datagen;
 
+import java.util.Optional;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
@@ -26,9 +27,11 @@
 
   private static final Logger LOG = LoggerFactory.getLogger(DataGenerator.class);
 
-  private static final String KAFKA = "kafka:9092";
+  private static final String KAFKA =
+      Optional.ofNullable(System.getenv("DATAGEN_KAFKA")).orElse("kafka:9092");
 
-  private static final String TOPIC = "transactions";
+  private static final String TOPIC =
+      Optional.ofNullable(System.getenv("DATAGEN_TOPIC")).orElse("transactions");
 
   public static void main(String[] args) {
     Producer producer = new Producer(KAFKA, TOPIC);
diff --git a/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/Producer.java b/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/Producer.java
index 33d68bd..b127b0f 100644
--- a/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/Producer.java
+++ b/docker/data-generator/src/main/java/org/apache/flink/playground/datagen/Producer.java
@@ -19,7 +19,6 @@
 package org.apache.flink.playground.datagen;
 
 import java.time.ZoneOffset;
-import java.time.format.DateTimeFormatter;
 import java.util.Properties;
 import org.apache.flink.playground.datagen.model.Transaction;
 import org.apache.flink.playground.datagen.model.TransactionSerializer;
@@ -32,9 +31,6 @@
 /** Generates CSV transaction records at a rate */
 public class Producer implements Runnable, AutoCloseable {
 
-  private static final DateTimeFormatter formatter =
-      DateTimeFormatter.ofPattern("yyyy-MM-dd hh:mm:ss");
-
   private volatile boolean isRunning;
 
   private final String brokers;
diff --git a/docker/ops-playground-image/Dockerfile b/docker/ops-playground-image/Dockerfile
index 74aa593..b9e5d19 100644
--- a/docker/ops-playground-image/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/ops-playground-image/Dockerfile
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 # Build Click Count Job
 ###############################################################################
 
-FROM maven:3.8.6-eclipse-temurin-17 AS builder
+FROM maven:3.8-eclipse-temurin-17 AS builder
 
 # Get Click Count job and compile it
 COPY ./java/flink-playground-clickcountjob /opt/flink-playground-clickcountjob
diff --git a/docker/ops-playground-image/java/flink-playground-clickcountjob/pom.xml b/docker/ops-playground-image/java/flink-playground-clickcountjob/pom.xml
index ab08a30..f7374fa 100644
--- a/docker/ops-playground-image/java/flink-playground-clickcountjob/pom.xml
+++ b/docker/ops-playground-image/java/flink-playground-clickcountjob/pom.xml
@@ -169,20 +169,6 @@
 										<ignore/>
 									</action>
 								</pluginExecution>
-								<pluginExecution>
-									<pluginExecutionFilter>
-										<groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-										<artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-										<versionRange>[3.1,)</versionRange>
-										<goals>
-											<goal>testCompile</goal>
-											<goal>compile</goal>
-										</goals>
-									</pluginExecutionFilter>
-									<action>
-										<ignore/>
-									</action>
-								</pluginExecution>
 							</pluginExecutions>
 						</lifecycleMappingMetadata>
 					</configuration>
diff --git a/operations-playground/README.md b/operations-playground/README.md
index 6e7cd56..e9a9405 100644
--- a/operations-playground/README.md
+++ b/operations-playground/README.md
@@ -61,4 +61,4 @@
 ## Further instructions
 
 The playground setup and more detailed instructions are presented in the
-["Getting Started" guide](https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-release-1.15/try-flink/flink-operations-playground.html) of Flink's documentation.
+["Getting Started" guide](https://ci.apache.org/projects/flink/flink-docs-release-1.16/try-flink/flink-operations-playground.html) of Flink's documentation.
diff --git a/table-walkthrough/Dockerfile b/table-walkthrough/Dockerfile
index d02d684..3f1347c 100644
--- a/table-walkthrough/Dockerfile
+++ b/table-walkthrough/Dockerfile
@@ -16,18 +16,18 @@
 # limitations under the License.
 ################################################################################
 
-FROM maven:3.8-jdk-8-slim AS builder
+FROM maven:3.8-eclipse-temurin-17 AS builder
 
 COPY ./pom.xml /opt/pom.xml
 COPY ./src /opt/src
-RUN cd /opt; mvn clean install -Dmaven.test.skip
+RUN cd /opt; mvn clean verify -Dmaven.test.skip
 
-FROM apache/flink:1.15.2-scala_2.12-java8
+FROM apache/flink:1.16.0-scala_2.12-java11
 
 # Download connector libraries
-RUN wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-sql-connector-kafka/1.15.2/flink-sql-connector-kafka-1.15.2.jar; \
-    wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-connector-jdbc/1.15.2/flink-connector-jdbc-1.15.2.jar; \
-    wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-csv/1.15.2/flink-csv-1.15.2.jar; \
+RUN wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-sql-connector-kafka/1.16.0/flink-sql-connector-kafka-1.16.0.jar; \
+    wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-connector-jdbc/1.16.0/flink-connector-jdbc-1.16.0.jar; \
+    wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/org/apache/flink/flink-csv/1.16.0/flink-csv-1.16.0.jar; \
     wget -P /opt/flink/lib/ https://repo.maven.apache.org/maven2/mysql/mysql-connector-java/8.0.19/mysql-connector-java-8.0.19.jar;
 
 COPY --from=builder /opt/target/spend-report-*.jar /opt/flink/usrlib/spend-report.jar
diff --git a/table-walkthrough/docker-compose.yml b/table-walkthrough/docker-compose.yml
index 2991e45..4b55331 100644
--- a/table-walkthrough/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/table-walkthrough/docker-compose.yml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@
 version: '2.1'
 services:
   jobmanager:
-    image: apache/flink-table-walkthrough:1-FLINK-1.15-scala_2.12
+    image: apache/flink-table-walkthrough:1-FLINK-1.16-scala_2.12
     build: .
     hostname: "jobmanager"
     expose:
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@
       - kafka
       - mysql
   taskmanager:
-    image: apache/flink-table-walkthrough:1-FLINK-1.15-scala_2.12
+    image: apache/flink-table-walkthrough:1-FLINK-1.16-scala_2.12
     build: .
     expose:
       - "6121"
diff --git a/table-walkthrough/pom.xml b/table-walkthrough/pom.xml
index bc83e9d..82e904c 100644
--- a/table-walkthrough/pom.xml
+++ b/table-walkthrough/pom.xml
@@ -30,8 +30,8 @@
 
 	<properties>
 		<project.build.sourceEncoding>UTF-8</project.build.sourceEncoding>
-		<flink.version>1.15.2</flink.version>
-		<java.version>1.8</java.version>
+		<flink.version>1.16.0</flink.version>
+		<java.version>11</java.version>
 		<scala.binary.version>2.12</scala.binary.version>
 		<maven.compiler.source>${java.version}</maven.compiler.source>
 		<maven.compiler.target>${java.version}</maven.compiler.target>
@@ -202,20 +202,6 @@
                                         <ignore/>
                                     </action>
                                 </pluginExecution>
-                                <pluginExecution>
-                                    <pluginExecutionFilter>
-                                        <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
-                                        <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
-                                        <versionRange>[3.1,)</versionRange>
-                                        <goals>
-                                            <goal>testCompile</goal>
-                                            <goal>compile</goal>
-                                        </goals>
-                                    </pluginExecutionFilter>
-                                    <action>
-                                        <ignore/>
-                                    </action>
-                                </pluginExecution>
                             </pluginExecutions>
                         </lifecycleMappingMetadata>
                     </configuration>