SAN FRANCISCO — In what is being heralded as “the most significant enhancement to the
Java platform in the technology’s nine-year history,” Sun Microsystems
introduced its new Java 2 Platform Standard Edition
(J2SE) version 5.0.
The upgrade, known as Project Tiger or J2SE 1.5, has more than 100 new
features and is scheduled for a Fall 2004 release via the Java Developer Kit
(JDK). The kit includes four language changes, enhanced for loop,
enumerated types; static import and autoboxing. The update supports C-style formatted input/output, variable arguments, concurrency utilities and a
simpler RMI (Remote Method Invocation) interface generation, new JVM (Java
Virtual Machine) monitoring, management API
compatible) default Java look.
The beta 2 release of the Java 2 Platform Standard Edition 5.0 software development kit (JDK) is now available. It includes tools such as compilers and debuggers necessary for developing applets and applications and the associated Java Runtime Environment (JRE).
Noted Java guru and Sun CTO James Gosling told internetnews.com last week that the feedback
has so far been positive.
“It’s a combination of, ‘the most reliable release we’ve done,’ ‘really
good performance,’ and feature-wise people are quite happy,” Gosling said.
“The language changes in particular: we’ve never done a set of language
changes this comprehensive. Generics and Enumerations are the big-ticket
items and meta data, while probably the least understood in the community,
probably will have a big effect.”
What to Expect
The metadata feature in J2SE 1.5 provides the ability to associate
additional data alongside Java classes, interfaces, methods, and fields. The
javac compiler or other tools can read this additional data, or annotation,
and depending on configuration can also be stored in the class file and can
be discovered at runtime using the Java reflection API, Sun said in a recent
posting.
“One of the primary reasons for adding metadata to the Java platform is
to enable development and runtime tools to have a common infrastructure and
so reduce the effort required for programming and deployment, Sun said. “A
tool could use the Metadata information to generate additional source code
or provide additional information when debugging. In lieu of Metadata tools
the following example creates an artificial debug Metadata annotation that
is then simply displayed at runtime. It is envisioned that most Metadata
tags form a standard, well-specified set.
The release also contains a more powerful native profiling API called
Java Virtual Machine Tool Interface, or JVMTI. This API has been specified
through JSR 163 and was motivated by the need for an improved profiling
interface. However, JVMTI is intended to cover the full range of native
in-process tools access, which in addition to profiling, includes
monitoring, debugging and a potentially a wide variety of other code
analysis tools.
J2SE 1.5 introduces several revisions to the core XML platform, including
XML 1.1 and Namespace, XML Schema. SAX 2.0.1. XSLT and the fast XLSTC
compiler, and finally DOM Level 3 support.
“In addition to the core XML support future versions of the Java Web
Services Developer Pack will deliver the latest web services standards:
JAX-RPC & SAAJ (WSDL/SOAP), JAXB, XML Encryption and Digital Signature and
JAXR for registries,” Sun said.
The implementation includes a mechanism for byte code instrumentation,
Java Programming Language Instrumentation Services (JPLIS). This enables
analysis tools to add additional profiling only where it is needed. The
advantage of this technique is that it allows more focused analysis and
limits the interference of the profiling tools on the running JVM. The
instrumentation can even be dynamically generated at runtime, as well as at
class loading time, and pre-processed as class files.
Also new in the J2SE 5.0 platform is the inclusion of the Java Management
Extensions (JMX), which provides a simple, standard way of managing Java
resources such as applications, devices and services.
Sun also discussed Project Mustang, the release that will follow Java 2
Platform Standard Edition 5.0. Sun said a multi-vendor team is currently
receiving customer and partner input and will draft a Java Specification
Request (JSR) for submission to the JCP. Topics later this year.
“Java has built a commanding lead in the network computing arena with
undisputed popularity and demand among developers,” John Loiacono, Sun
executive vice president. “With over 110 million downloads of J2SE since
its availability in December 1998, the Java platform continues to fuel the
Java Economy and drive global business innovation on desktops and servers.”
A Parade of Java Announcements
In related developer news, Sun said it is contributing code for Project Looking
Glass, its 3D desktop environment and Java 3D technology, to the open source
community. As an alternative to the more popular Windows or Macintosh
desktops, Sun said Project Looking Glass runs on Solaris and Linux and
features window transparency, rotation, zoom and miniaturization.
Sun also debuted its beta release of NetBeans 4.0
launched Java 2 Standard Edition 5, (known as Project Tiger or J2SE 1.5),
unveiled its Sun Java Developer Network; and announced the upcoming release
of Sun Java Studio Creator (formerly Project Rave) for a $99 per year
subscription.
The company also said that it has inked a collaborative agreement with
semiconductor design firm ARM to incorporate more Java at
the semiconductor level for mobile devices.
