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Disenchanted

Posted by editor on March 27, 2009 at 8:51 AM PDT

Just how open is Java?

In a dispute that's likely to light up the Java blogosphere, Stephen Colebourne, co-creator of the First Class Methods closure proposal, is raising his concerns about the openness of the Java standard. In his blogNo more Java 7, he focuses on the history of the Java platform standard, from its aborted submission to ECMA in 1997, through the establishment of the JCP and the ratification of JSR 176 for Java SE 5 and JSR 270 for Java SE 6, as well as the TCK dispute over Apache Harmony.

Coming back to the premise of his title, Stephen writes,

I started with a contentious statement - that there may not be a Java SE 7 (open specification). So, lets look at the evidence.

Blogs, blogs and more blogs - Every blog from a key Sun employee in recent times has referred to JDK 7, not Java 7. Read them carefully!!! Still think there is guaranteed to be a Java 7?

To emphasise the point - JDK 7 is the implementation, Java SE 7 is the specification. But everyone at Sun is talking about the JDK (Open JDK), not the specification (Java) and this isn't an accident.

As a possible counter-point -- decoupling the JDK from the standard, but implying the latter will eventually come to pass -- Stephen quotes Mark Reinhold's JDK 7 blog of a few days ago:

What about the JCP? The JDK 7 Project is creating a prototype of what might--or might not--wind up in the Java SE 7 Platform Specification. When the SE 7 Platform JSR is submitted then the features under development in JDK 7 will be proposed for inclusion therein, except for those that are VM-level or implementation-specific.

Stephen summarizes his argument by claiming that the lack of a platform JSR, or its appearance after the implementation is largely done (a "rubber stamp", he calls it) means that "Java SE is no longer an open standard and the next release will be JDK 7, not Java 7."

Do you buy it? What do you think? The post has attracted dozens of comments, some of which he addresses in a follow-up blog, A question of IP.

Also in Java Today, a new version of JavaFX, 1.1.1, is now available for download. This release "contains some bug fixes and quality enhancements and incorporates the JavaFX 1.1.1 SDK, which has enhancements to improve media performance." More details are available in the NetBeans IDE 6.5.1 for JavaFX 1.1.1 release notes and JavaFX 1.1.1 SDK release notes. The SDK also includes two new examples: Simple Simulation: Planets in the Solar System and Book Panel.

The SDN's Janice Heiss has posted an interview with the UK's first Java Champion, in Seeding Cloud Computing: A Conversation With Java Champion Alan Williamson. In it, Alan discusses the challenges of and misconceptions about cloud computing, his goals as editor for the Cloud Computing Journal, cloud computing and open source, how to develop for and monitor the cloud, and more.

Recession be damned, we've managed to highlight job openings in today's Weblogs, starting with Marina Sum's link to some Engineer Openings at OpenSSO. "In the current economic downturn, job opportunities are music to many ears. Are you interested in entry-level engineer, senior quality manager, information architect, and Java UI developer positions with Sun's superb OpenSSO team? If so, read on."

On the client side, Joshua Marinacci asks Want a Job Coding Extreme Swing? "I don't normally post about job offers, but this one is simply too cool to pass up. The guys at Limewire are looking to hire a new Swing developer."

And while it's not a paid position, Alexander Potochkin posts word that the SAF team is looking for experienced contributors, saying that "Swing Application Framework is open for a real help from the community."

In today's Forums, Marcus Milanez is interested in Updating JAXB on Glassfish. "Looking at https://jaxb.dev.java.net/ I came accross a new JAXB version (2.1.1.0). Is it possible to update my glassfish (2.1) installation with this new version? I couldn't find this information anywhere... Is this version faster than my current version?"

ixmal has a warning of how not to hack Swing, in Re: Translucent windows question. "You know, direct calls to getGraphics() effectively turn off most of Swing's painting optimizations - see JComponent.safelyGetGraphics() and related code. That's why I'd suggest you to rewrite the code using paintComponent(), if possible. In JDK7, when shaped & translucency windows will be supported in java.awt package (public API instead of AWTUtilities), we still plan reusing standard Swing approach, i.e. when all the components are painted from JComponent.paint(), and it's RepaintManager who is responsible for updating the native back buffer used for translucency."

sfitzjava retells the deployment woes of many mobile developers in Re: Deploying a j2me application. "There are usually a couple ways to deploy depending on the phone features, and the service provider. But there are some cases where 3rd party deployment is impossible, such is the case for VirginMobile US, Movida, are two I know of. While VMobile is because they don't allow off internal site downloads. Movida is because they are in a "Walled Garden", which is a way of saying they don't allow internet connections out of their network."

And, in a repeat of a major news item from earlier in the week, Rochelle Raccah posts Big week for GlassFish support in Eclipse - Announcing GlassFish Tools Bundle for Eclipse. "This week has been a very exciting week for the GlassFish support in Eclipse! In addition to publishing several updates of our plugin, Sun is a Gold sponsor at EclipseCon 2009, had several talks and announced our GlassFish Tools Bundle for Eclipse. This bundle contains community editions of GlassFish v2.1 and GlassFish v3 Prelude, Eclipse 3.4.1, the GlassFish Eclipse plugin and optionally JDK 1.6. This bundle contains preconfiguration of the 2 GlassFish servers and database setup for Eclipse."

Apropos of this week's release of a GlassFish bundle for Eclipse, the latest java.net Poll asks "Are you more likely to use a library or framework if it comes bundled for your IDE or build tool?" Cast your vote on the front page, then visit the results page for current tallies and discussion.

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Just how open is Java?
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Comments
Comments are listed in date ascending order (oldest first)

Submitted by jwenting on Sat, 2009-03-28 18:27.
Stephen is Apache, Apache is intent on derailing the JCP because of their impression of being slighted by Sun.




 

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