Java Archive

The first open source implementation of the latest specification for enterprise Java is expected in JBoss Group LLC's increasingly popular open source application server next year, Gavin Clarke writes. Read the article at TheRegister.

A ZDNet article details the upcoming arguments in the antitrust suit brought by Sun Microsystems against Microsoft over Microsoft's treatment of the Java platform. Sun claims that Microsoft has distributed a crippled and incompatible version of Java in its (monopoly) operating system, which serves to undermine the Java platform. The article covers mostly background and history. It's pretty clear what Sun's case is, but less obvious how Microsoft will choose to defend itself.

James Gosling, the father of Java and a fellow at Sun Microsystems Inc., graced the Software Development Conference and Expo East 2002 with his presence this week, addressing a wide range of issues from Sun's software strategy to Web services to embedded Java to open-source software.

In this article, B.J. Fesq provides a clear understanding of the enterprise Java platform's direction and introduces J2EE (Java 2, Enterprise Edition) 1.4's support for emerging Web services standards.

Sun Microsystems-led Java Community Process Tuesday launched the latest iteration of its program, JCP 2.5, making it easier for Java-loving developers to write to the language with its focus on open-source licensing.

"This will come as no surprise to many of you, but I have been somewhat lost and wandering in the desert these past few months. Five years of involvement in many of the major issues related to Java had left me questioning whether the ideas I believe in, ideas that many of us share in common, could make a meaningful difference. This summer has been a sabbatical that I didn't know I needed, and the long pondering of the core issues has helped me refocus and reorder my priorities." Read the article at JavaLobby (free reg. required).

Java 1.4.1 has recently been released. Over 2,000 bug fixes have been issued in this maintence release. Two new garbage collectors have been added, Concurrent and Parallel. Click here for more information while you can also find the the full list of changes.

A builder.com article discusses the increasing use of Java as a tool for developing embedded systems. Primarily because of the portability benefits that java brings, it has become a very popular option in the past year or so. The article covers the upsides and downsides of Java in embedded systems.

"Over the last few years, refactoring -- the process of gradually improving a code base by renaming methods and classes, extracting common functionality into new methods and classes, and generally cleaning up the mess inherent in most 1.0 systems -- has gained a lot of adherents. Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) like Eclipse and IDEA can now automatically refactor code." Read the 10 reasons at OnJava.com.

Saw this over at BSDForums.org. In this final series article, JavaWorld's Jeff Friesen completes his exploration of threads by focusing on thread groups, volatility, thread-local variables, timers, and the ThreadDeath class. Also, the accompanying sidebar, "Finalization and Threads," explores Java's finalization activity in the context of threads.

"In an about-face, Microsoft said Tuesday that it will reinstate the ability to run Java programs in Windows XP. Microsoft said it would include its own Java software in the Service Pack 1 update to Windows XP due late this summer. In the long term, though, the company plans to remove Java from Windows altogether." Read the report at News.com.

ZDNews reports that Sun Microsystems this week released a new version of its Java software development tool with support for Web services. Sun previously released test versions of the tool and Web services technology. The Sun One Studio version 4.0, previously called Forte for Java, supports the latest version of Java and allows programmers to convert existing software into Web services.

"Mark Driver, research director for Gartner Inc., spoke yesterday to a breakfast gathering of top-level marketing executives about trends in the app development market. He revealed some statistics about Java's inroads, which led him to some interesting conclusions." Read the highlights of this invitation-only event sponsored by Java Pro, and check out related coverage: "Driver on Java vs. .NET", "Which Language is Number One?", "Where is Java Going?"

In this developerWorks article, antipatterns expert and author of Bitter Java, Bruce Tate, demonstrates how and why antipatterns are a necessary and complementary companion to design patterns. Antipatterns describe a commonly occurring solution to a problem that generates decidedly negative consequences. In another new developerWorks article over at IBM, the second of two comparing SSH, remote X, VNC, and other technologies as ways of remotely running applications. In this part, David takes a look at some VNC configuration issues, glances at IBM's Desktop On-Call, introduces remote X, and talks a bit about security.