IBM has released an SDK for Java 6. Product binaries are available for Linux on x86 and 64-bit AMD, and AIX for PPC for 32- and 64-bits. In addition to supporting the Java SE 6 Platform specification, the new SDK also focuses on, Data sharing between Java Virtual Machines, Enhanced diagnostics information, Operating system stack backtraces, Updated jdmpview tool, platform stability, and performance.
No thanks. I just compiled the gnu classpath 0.93 generics branch the other day. For my needs, I can use that with ecj from eclipse 3.2 and jamvm or cacao to compile or run most 1.5 compatible code. Sure, if I needed to write anything that has to go into production for a client, and it needs to run on 1.5, I’d compile it with Sun’s 1.5 compiler.
Otherwise, I’ll hold out until Sun’s GPL 1.7 stack is ready. So, no IBM, if you want me to use your SDK then you should follow Sun’s example and make it free.
I just ran though some quick benchmarks, and it came out pretty well against sun’s java6. IBM’s came out ahead in every benchmark I put it through. Not by the extent that it did back in the day, but it’s still nice to see this kind of thing.
Very interesting. I can remember as we developed some “heavy” (about 15 mio. code lines) distributed enterprise applications with 1.3 (or was it 1.4?) it was pretty impressive how better on the server side JDK from IBM was. It was much more stable, less buggier, code much cleaner and able to use 4GB of RAM on AIX. Not sure about speed performance. I think Sun was better on that one. However it was never a problem for big companies, where new/more hardware is the answer.
Having dealt with IBM on the same front/scale of project, I think the key part of your statement is “AIX”. There is no Sun JVM on AIX (or at least – there wasn’t back when I was working with it in ’03). How can you compare the stability/bugginess/code cleanliness/etc of a non-existant package with an existing package?
Not getting into specifics, but I’ve dealt with IBM’s older (Websphere/HATS/etc) stacks and their more recent stuff, and I’ve had a lot of “strange” things take place. Almost as a counter-point to your post, I’ve found Sun’s Java much more stable assuming I stuck within the constraints of the provided libraries. Slapping in all kinds of third party frameworks into the mix can complicate things a bit. :p
That said, you won’t see me running this SDK anytime soon!
Edited 2007-01-24 01:14
> …I think the key part of your statement is “AIX”…
No, it’s not. It was only one part of the software running on AIX. As I said, it was one pretty much distributed (mostly with CORBA) piece of software.
> …How can you compare the stability/bugginess/code cleanliness/etc of a non-existant package with an existing package?…
IBM JDK was used not only on AIX.
> Not getting into specifics, but I’ve dealt with IBM’s older (Websphere/HATS/etc) stacks and their more recent stuff, and I’ve had a lot of “strange” things take place.
Sure. I’m also not a big fan of WebSphere. Too bloated, too slow, too buggy. IBM VisualAge for Java was much better. For me JDK integration and Debugging in VA was much better than even in eclipse now. And WebSphere is actually not so old. 😉
> I’ve found Sun’s Java much more stable assuming I stuck within the constraints of the provided libraries.
This is really the first time I hear somehing like that from somebody.
with the upcomming release of gpl java i’m suprised that IBM is still working on there own jvm, would it not be better if they just merged all the better bits of their jvm into the gpl version to get an ultimate jvm instead of working alone?
didn’t they promise that they would donate code if sun open sourced their jre?
But the IBM SDK does have some advantages beyond speed. The use and expansion of PermGenSpace is much better than in the Sun SDK or GCJ. This is not a bog deal for client apps, but heavy lifting J2EE servers, especially portal servers, can really cause the Sun JDK heartburn.
Have a look at this paper I’ve wrote comparing the Sun vs IBM JVM GC. It turns out that memory performance depends mostly on the application and not so much on the VM.
http://istlab.dmst.aueb.gr/~george/pubs/2006-SANE-GKS/paper.pdf
And Sun’s JVM has a big advantage over IBM, at least on Solaris: DTrace providers