Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced the release of the Java 2 platform, formerly known as “JDK 1.2,” and includes significant performance improvements, a flexible security model and a complete set of Applications Programming Interfaces (APIs).
With this release, Sun is hoping to provide developers with the speed, security and functionality necessary to create “interoperable, mission-critical enterprise applications.” Java 2 was developed by utilizing the input of nearly 200 Java software licensees along with tens of thousands of Java programmers.
New features of the Java 2 platform include:
- Java Security Model – The Java 2 platform security model includes new features such as Policy-based access control and Certificate interfaces
Performance Enhancements, including:
- Native thread support for Solaris operating environment
- Memory compression for loaded classes
- Faster memory allocation and improved garbage collection
- Pluggable virtual machine architecture for other virtual machines
- New Just in Time (JIT) compiler
- Java Native Interface (JNI) conversion
- Java Foundation Classes, which include:
- The Project Swing set of GUI components
- Drag & Drop
- Java 2D API which provides new 2D and AWT graphics capabilities as well as printing support
- The Java look and feel interface
- A new Accessibility API
Globalization – new features include:
- Input Method Framework which supports Japanese, Chinese, and Korean characters
- Complex output using the Java 2D API to provide a bi-directional, high-quality display of Japanese, Arabic, Hebrew and other character languages
- Java Plug-in for Web browsers, which provides a runtime that is fully compatible with the Java virtual machine
- Java IDL (Interface Definition Language) API, which provides standards-based distributed computing interoperability with CORBA
- Java Database Connectivity 2.0 (JDBCtm 2.0) Enhancements, with improved performance and stability
- Collections Framework – represents and manipulates collections for development efficiency and allows interoperability among unrelated APIs
For additional information, or to download the Java 2 platform, visit the Sun Java 2 Site.