Java Archive

With "only a little Java code and a third-party product," Bob Reselman was able to make Windows pay attention to the goings-on of a Macintosh server. Here's how he did it.

In late June of this year, the latest release of the Eclipse Platform, version 3.1, will be available for download from eclipse.org. Read more here.

The executive committee for Java SE/EE has approved the new JSR-275 to add units/quantities to the Java platform (see JSR-275 results). Although the early specification/implementation of the units package provided by the wide-ranging JScience open-source project has to be simplified significantly according to Google Inc. executive member.

This chapter discusses the different approaches to code generation and looks at best practices for applying code generation techniques to the development of enterprise software for the J2EE platform.

Following on from my previous article, the Java platform has an even greater image problem that is more than skin deep. Coming under yet another two-pronged attack, you'll typically hear complaints falling into the two camps:

Sun Microsystems has expressed "serious doubts" about the usefulness of the latest Apache Foundation project to create an open source implementation of the Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE). In an interview with vnunet.com, James Gosling, Java creator and Sun vice president in charge of the programming language, explained that he did not understand why the open source consortium was undertaking the project.

Java Swing comes with "pluggable look-and-feel technology", which essentially boils down to the fact that interfaces can be "skinned" (although this is simplifying a tad) and is therefore, extremely flexible. By default, Java ships with a cross-platform look-and-feel (LAF), which means your apps can look consistent across all platforms, or LAFs that mimic the look of a specific platform, say Windows, for example. However, one of the chief complaints of Java desktop applications is its "look". It basically stems from two issues:

Java-based open source development has come a long way since the early days of developers sharing GUI libraries. Geronimo is a large-scale project attempting to create a certified J2EE 1.4 server based on existing open source components. Take a tour through the Geronimo maze with Sing Li as your guide. Gluecode Software CTO and principal Geronimo contributor Jeremy Boynes shares his perspective on Geronimo and go here to learn how to use the new Eclipse plug-in for Apache Geronimo.

The open-source Netbeans IDE version 4.1 has been released. Many improvements and bug fixes. The infamous Scanner class error which plagued earlier versions seems to be fixed.

The Apache guys are trying to implement yet another J2SE. FAQ here.

New in GNU Classpath 0.15: Optimized nio and nio.charset packages plus io streams integration leading to large speedups in character stream performance. To complement this new framework a native iconv based charset provider was added. Better support for free swing metal and pluggable lafs. Some org.omg.CORBA support added. Better java.beans support for the Eclipse Visual Editor Project. Completely lock free ThreadLocal implementation added. More javax.swing.text support for RTF and HTML. More flexible runtime interfaces and build configuration options added. Release announcement.

With 79 fixes and improvements Java 5 update 3 is available. Sun has a new release scheme, there will not be a 5.1, only updates frequent updates like this will be available until Java 6, Mustang.

The next release of Java (Mustang) has some significant enhancements for desktop usage, including improved OS L&F, text anti-aliasing modes, more and improved graphics hardware usage, threading improvements, etc. Also, some long term bugs are fixed (like gray rectangle issue). See a full list and details.

In this chapter, you will learn the basics of the MMAPI and its implementation on Nokia devices. After studying the two example applications provided, you should be able to add multimedia playback and audio/video capturing features to your own application. Also, mobile gaming and mobile applications are hot! Games need to have flashy and stylish graphics, and the standards are now higher than ever. Mikko Kontio tells you how to develop 3D graphics for your J2ME devices with the Mobile 3D Graphics API.