Joshua Marinacci's Blog

Java FX updated, and a visit to the future of client Java

Open JFX updated

OpenJFX, the open source version of Java FX, was just updated. It has lots of improvements and demos, but the biggest thing is the first compiler, which will compile Java FX Script directly into bytecode rather than interpreting it. This is huge, because it makes FX Script a first class Java language, as well as being several orders of magnitude faster than interpretation.

Another big feature of this release is the better integration with NetBeans. FX Pad can now run directly inside NetBeans, further cementing NB as the Emacs of the 21st century. Now we just need a mail reader and mp3 player. :) I won't go into all of the new features, you can check it out for yourself here. Be sure to take a look at the SVG converter and chat client demo app: Casual. Lots of cool stuff in there.

The future of client Java

I've spent the last week in the bay area at secret clandestine meetings secretly planning the amazing top secret future of client Java and Java FX! Okay, that makes an endless week of meetings sound a lot more interesting than it really is, but there's some truth to it. We promised a lot of things at JavaOne, from designer tools to the consumer release of the JRE, and based on what I've seen in the last week I can say that we are really making all of this stuff happen. In fact, I'm going to come out here and make a bold (and not approved by my employer) statement:

2008 will be the year that client Java starts taking market share from Flash.

There, I said it. By JavaOne we will have completely re-energized client Java. And I mean client Java, not just desktop Java. Everything will be faster, prettier, easier to use, and easier to deploy. We will be better in the browser. We will be better on the desktop. We will be better on the phones. Existing technologies are being updated and new technologies will see their debut at JavaOne, if not earlier.

I'm not going to spoil things by telling you what's coming up. I'll just say that I have never been this excited about the direction client Java is going. Never! Exciting times are ahead for the Java community!

Comments

• This is all great news. Personally, I'm anxiously awaiting the full source release of JFX. When you say "several orders of magnitude faster", do you really mean thousands of times faster?

  Posted by: coxcu on July 20, 2007 at 01:23 PM

• Well, maybe two orders. :) The first version of output from the compiler is 54x faster than interpreted. Eventually compiled FX Script will be every bit as fast as straight Java code, using the same hotspot runtime optimizations.

  Posted by: joshy on July 20, 2007 at 04:50 PM

• And we will still be on Java 5, if we want to be cross-platform. (Not everyone will upgrade to Leopard immediately.) And if targeting only Windows, well, there are alternatives. So I'm still waiting for that surprise announcement. I'd love to do the port myself, but it seems a mighty big project. Still, improving the story for Windows means that Java 5 apps will still be better than today. So that's good news to hear of progress.

  Posted by: tompalmer on July 21, 2007 at 02:14 PM

• this is great news! while i'm more personally interested in traditional java/swing programming, javaFX script is the best thing to happen to client java, because it's moving the consumer/desktop of the platform into top gear at Sun innit. It's nice, I like!

  Posted by: evanx on July 23, 2007 at 01:51 AM

• "I've spent the last week in the bay area at secret clandestine meetings secretly planning the amazing top secret future of client Java and Java FX! "
  Gosh Josh,I hope you don't have to kill us now that you've told us ;-)On a slightly more serious note, this sounds exciting and I can't wait to see what you've been up to.-JohnR

  Posted by: johnreynolds on July 23, 2007 at 06:35 AM

• Josh,

  This is great to hear early! 2008 is around the corner.
  Hopefully, we will be seeing a new wave of books written for JavaFX.
  
  
  JavaFX - tutorial
  JavaFX - Java/Integration
  JavaFX - Networking
  JavaFX - Design
  JavaFX - Netbeans
  JavaFX - 2D/3D (import models)
  JavaFX - Cloning Flash
  JavaFX - Simple Gaming
  JavaFX - Video
  JavaFX - MP3Player
  JavaFX - Business Application Development
  JavaFX - MVM??? j/k who knows?
  
  
  -Carl

  Posted by: carldea on July 23, 2007 at 09:49 AM

• Too much hype, too little delivery. I guess I'm biased because I'm not a target customer of JavaFX, but the whole thing is utterly meaningless to me. I might consider writing browser applications in JavaFX but not full-blown desktop applications. Flash is cute, but I would never consider writing applications in it either.

  Posted by: cowwoc on July 23, 2007 at 10:27 AM

• I just hope that it is true and that it will be delivered. I really wish to forget about Flash but as for today there is no competing technology. Good luck!

  Posted by: imjames on July 24, 2007 at 07:48 AM

• O please, please make the types not null by default. Its amazing the amount of bugs and boilerplate that are caused by not setting default values or allowing setting null values on objects.
  P. L. E. A. S. E.

  Posted by: i30817 on July 24, 2007 at 02:50 PM

• Primitive types that is.

  Posted by: i30817 on July 24, 2007 at 02:53 PM

• better on phones? Oh, how I look forward to the day when we can write java apps that "just work" on phones without the incompatibility pains we deal with today.

  Posted by: behmann on July 26, 2007 at 07:49 AM

• is javafx able to record audio and video from the browser like what Flash currently can do (see Youtube)? If not, then I think JavaFX can't be a contender to Flash in the browser side.

  Posted by: endlesslove on July 27, 2007 at 08:19 AM

• IMHO, JavaFX adoption will be just another short-lived applet even if it would be successful to deliver the wow-effect to developers. Why did I think so? Because there is Microsoft Silverlight and Adobe AIR and these are from companies pouring out money to push it in the market. Microsoft and Adobe are busy making business partners that will help them market their respective products. They are very industrious in pushing their products to big-time companies that they believe can influence other small and medium business enterprise to also follow their steps and use Silverlight/AIR too (the domino-effect). They are busy spreading FUDs, conducting seminars, writing paid-blogs and releasing news-in-disguise praise to their products, etcetera, etcetera.

  And don't forget also that Novell is helping Microsoft to speed-up Silverlight adoption on linux via their so-called Mono/Moonlight.

  Now, the question is: What is Sun's strategy to counter or neutralize Microsoft/Adobe's effort? We Java developers need insurance NOW, or else, the future will come and we will see ourselves not coding anymore in our beloved Java.

  And by the way, please woo not only the developers, but woo also our bosses because their decision whether to use Java technology or the other else is what matters most.

  Agree or disagree? Post a comment and let me hear your voice.
  

  Posted by: endlesslove on July 28, 2007 at 05:15 AM

• There is a huge gap between Java/JavaFX and declarative/Flex UI way development. Developers get used to HTML/XML declarative approach, but they desire much richer client. And Flex is perfectly positioned for it.

  From that point of view I see two missing links in Rich Java Client chain:
  1 Some offer for Declarative web-based applications. The closest technology on Java side is JSF. Some way to marry JSF with Rich Java Client will be great.
  2 Better merry Java/JavaFX with browser. Flex did great job in this, which helps a lot in adoption.

  Posted by: ishabalov on July 29, 2007 at 11:10 AM

• Hi Joshua,

  I've posted a few blogs in response to this post:
  2008 - The Year of Client Java?
  Flex & Flash as Competitors to Java?

  Just like the conversations we had at the Java Posse Roundup I hope that we continue to be able to discuss how these technologies can complement one another.

  -James

  Posted by: jlward4th on July 30, 2007 at 01:31 PM

• sorry about the strange formatting... br's didn't seem to work. and the preview for using the pre tag didn't look like that. weird.

  Posted by: jlward4th on July 30, 2007 at 01:33 PM

• sorry for my late reply. I was travelling all last week.

  behmann: That is exactly the idea. Eventually you will have a single set of APIs that works across the desktop, webbrowser, phones, TVs, and future devices we haven't even thought of yet.

  endlesslove: part of the Java FX strategy will be a set of media components. You should be able to create YouTube like websites (but with many more features since you'll have Java underneath to do cool things). And yes, we plan to have a community and marketing efforts to go along with FX. Sliverlight and AIR are obviously on our radar. We are going to be wooing not only developers but also designers and business folks.

  ishabalov: we will have tools to make it easier for non-programmers to build applications. I can't go into details yet so I'll just say that we have some good stuff coming.

  Posted by: joshy on July 30, 2007 at 04:05 PM

• jlward4th: thanks James. I've responded on your blog. I see some areas where Client Java and Flash will compete, and others where they are great partners. And both are a good thing. Competition keeps us on our toes and collaboration lets people build killer apps. The thing I'm most excited about is the rise of rich internet applications. I'm a client guy. I love cool user interfaces; and for too long the web has been hobbled by limited graphics and horrible latency of serverside HTML. Over the last few years we've seen new technologies (and adoption of older technologies) that overcome these limitations and create great new user experiences. Over the next couple of years these developments will accelerate and let us create some truly compelling user experiences. I can't wait!

  BTW. I'm sorry I can't make it to the RIA conference in August. I've simply been traveling way to much this summer. (3 out of the last 4 weeks and more is coming). I promise to make it to the next one. I'd love to sit down and map out the RIA related conferences over the next year and make sure we can meet up for dinner.

  Posted by: joshy on July 30, 2007 at 04:16 PM

• I sure hope will see 2008 as the year Java is back in the game (e.g. taking flash-AIR market... :)

  Posted by: greenido on September 27, 2007 at 01:49 PM

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