Java Archive

A data model provides application developers a much better understanding of the overall application architecture, even though generally speaking they are not required to know in-depth about database architecture details. A database designer can use a tool like Rational XDE to model and visualize the database, ensure database rules, add different database objects, and play around with relationships. The article shows you the basics of how to model a DB2 db using Rational XDE Developer for Java.

OrangeCrate presented an email interview with James Gosling of Sun Microsystems. Mr. Gosling answered some tough questions and refute some of the analysts’ propositions as to what exactly the Sun Microsystems and Microsoft settlement means for the future of Linux.

James Gosling of Java fame answers recent charges against Sun. Even more interesting, he has directly addressed Miguel de Icaza's assertion that Java is just as encumbered as .Net by pointing out that Sun has offered a patent grant to anyone who wishes to implement the Java specification. Update: Havoc Pennington of freedesktop.org/Red Hat/Gnome fame replies to Gosling.

Just when you think you've got your developer tools all sorted out, a fresh crop is sure to emerge. This article uses a real-world example to introduce you to two of the most exciting new technologies for the enterprise. Hibernate is an object-relation mapping tool and Spring is an AOP framework and IOC container. Follow along as it shows you how to combine the two to build a transactional persistence tier for your enterprise applications and write code that is database-vendor agnostic, and that can run inside of a J2EE container or run standalone.

JAR files are ubiquitous to Java users and programmers. But just how much do you know about them? Learn the ins-and-outs of Java archive files, including their innate support for indexing, programmatic creation and manipulation, security, and data integrity.

Sun has released the latest version of its Java application server software, and as in the past, has made it available for free download to developers, TechWeb reports.

After Microsoft released their .Net framework everyone started realizing that J2EE is complex, says Debu Panda in his editorial. Elsewhere, while acknowledging obstacles remain, a Sun official left open the possibility that Sun might offer its Java programming language under an open source format.

Sun is still seeking ways to ensure that it remains relevant -- and not only in terms of quantity of users, developers and applications. "What's good about the model that exists now is that Sun, being the custodian, enforces compatibility," says IDC analyst Stephen Hendrick.

Slashdot reports that Sun CEO Scott McNealy has finally answered the long awaited question that has been on the minds of open source and Java developers and the answer is "no". He stated today that Sun sees no solution solved from open sourcing Java that isn't already addressed.

Most Java programmers use some kind of tracing system to keep track of potential errors and problems in code that is under development. However, multithreaded and multiplatform systems can generate a large and baffling amount of tracing data.

Research firm Gartner says only 32% of the 2.5 million Java developers in the world have genuine knowledge, which means there is a serious lack of high-level development skills.

Sun Microsystems is reluctant to make Java source code available through an open-source model because it would encourage incompatible versions of the software, Sun's top software executive said. Our Take: Funny, last night I tried to install the Symbian SDK and it bailed out because it wanted me to have Java 1.3.1 while I had Java 1.4.1. Talk about "incompatibilities"...

Even if Sun prefers to retain control over a stragic asset like Java, it should take a hard look at the components of Java that are related to platform-breadth and market-reach rather than to profitability, and slough these off to small, reactive Open Source efforts. javax.swing.text.html would be a good component to start the experiment with, says Rick Jelliffe. Check out the comments on that page too.

Can you write Java code that compiles across several platforms but still performs as fast as native code? This is a problem that has vexed Java developers, particularly when it comes to applications with complex UIs. This article proposes an interesting solution to this problem. You'll learn how to use JNI to access SLIK, a cross-platform C API that offers native performance on both Windows and UNIX. The JNI APIs demonstrated in this article will help you write skinned GUIs that run under both Linux and Windows with no code changes.