Java Archive

Classworking Toolkit: Generics with ASM

Eugenia Loli 2006-02-22 Java 4 Comments

Java 5 generics provide information that's useful for many classworking applications. This article shows how the ASM Java bytecode manipulation framework offers flexible access to generics information without going through the Java classloading process. Along the way, It looks deeper into the representation of generics in the binary class format.

Crafting Java with Test-Driven Dev: Handling Exceptions

Eugenia Loli 2006-02-20 Java 6 Comments

Handling exceptions may not be exciting, but it's a crucial part of writing your application. Instead of putting it off until the "fun stuff" is done, Jeff Langr advises a head-on approach: Drive exceptions through tests, like any other production code.

Validate Pre-Existing Java GUI-based Applications with RAVEN

Submitted by anonymous 2006-02-13 Java 1 Comment

"RAVEN ('Rule-based Accessibility Validation Environment') is a suite of Eclipse plug-ins used to inspect and validate the accessibility of Java-based, rich-client GUIs (Swing or SWT) and Eclipse plug-ins. RAVEN can be used to validate pre-existing Java GUI-based applications while the GUI is running."

The Year Ahead in Java Web Services

Submitted by anonymous 2006-02-13 Java 1 Comment

"2006 Is going to be a banner year for Web services in general, and for Java Web services in particular. New third-generation frameworks are being unveiled, which offer much better support for doc/lit SOAP as well as potential performance improvements. This article looks at both the state of Web services today and the major changes coming in 2006, and get an overview of how the new frameworks and technologies relate and interact."

JDK 1.6 (Mustang) GTK Look and Feel Screenshots

Submitted by Eraser 2006-02-12 Java 36 Comments

"A few months ago OSNews reported that the next version of Java (code name 'Mustang') will feature native GTK components for the Swing API. This got us excited since, quite frankly, Swing's GTK look and feel has always been quite dissapointing. We downloaded the latest release candidate of JDK 1.6 to see how well the Swing GTK look and feel looks, we were quite pleased with what we found."

Announcing the Mustang Regressions Challenge

Submitted by robogeek 2006-02-01 Java 2 Comments

"We are challenging you, the Java developer community, to find functional regressions between J2SE 5.0 (Tiger) and Java SE 6 (Mustang). The contest runs from Jan 31 through March 31, 2006, with prizes to be awarded in mid-April. You will find details on the contest home page and FAQ. The complete entry requirements are in the official legal rules governing the contest. You can enter the contest using the contest entry form. Prizes? There are five Ultra 20 workstations which will be awarded to the best regressions found during the contest. In addition all successful entrants, whose regression is entered into Suns internal database, will be given a t-shirt as our thanks to you for participating."

Reconsidering gcjx

Submitted by Anonymous 2006-01-29 Java 19 Comments

Tom Tromey (Red Hat) who wrote the GCJx as a extension to GCC to support Java 1.5 features among other changes has proposed a merge with ECJ, the Eclipse compiler from the Eclipse Foundation. The ramifications of this change are rather interesting.

Quick & Dirty Caching Fix for Java Memory Leaks

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-26 Java 11 Comments

"While programs in the Java language are theoretically immune from memory leaks, there are situations in which objects are not garbage collected even though they are no longer part of the program's logical state. This article shows you how Soft references, like weak references, can help applications prevent object loitering by enlisting the aid of the garbage collector in making cache eviction decisions."

Crafting Java with Test-Driven Development, Part 2: Testing Equality

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-22 Java 5 Comments

If you've been coding in Java for awhile, you know how to write a method to test equality. Why write tests for something you can code in your sleep? Because, as Jeff Langr points out, you've probably made plenty of dumb mistakes in your career, either while asleep or while wide awake. It's simpler and safer to just think of tests as specifications that you always have to code.

Mainsoft, IBM To Convert .NET Code to Java on All eServers

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-21 Java 3 Comments

"Turnabout is fair play, and it is refreshing to see that IBM is beginning to understand that it needs a strategy to try to bring the 100000 partners who write code for Microsoft's Windows platform onto all of its eServer platforms - not just xSeries and BladeCenter servers that run Windows natively on Intel and AMD processors. For a decade, software vendors have been porting their OS/400, AIX, and MVS applications to Windows, or creating whole new application suites that compete against software developed for those platforms. Now, IBM wants to turn the tables on the Windows ecosystem, and it is enlisting the support of Mainsoft to do this."

Internet Encryption Security Protocol for Java

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-20 Java 1 Comment

"The Java based lightweight implementation of the Internet Engineering Task Force Secure Shell protocol provides secure remote log-in and other secure network services over an insecure network. The protocol has three major components: Transport Layer, User Authentication and Connection. The implementation is lightweight due to using the highly optimized cryptographic library IBM CryptoLite for Java, efficient buffer and I/O handling, memory reuse to avoid excessive garbage collection, and threads are not used."

Build Apache Geronimo From Scratch

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-18 Java 5 Comments

"Many new and veteran developers are hopping onto the ever-growing Apache Geronimo bandwagon. Thus, the ability to build Geronimo is becoming increasingly important to developers who want to incorporate changes or full-custom modules. Unfortunately, building Geronimo is no trivial task. It requires learning new build scripts and companion build applications. Luckily, you can follow this step-by-step guide to understand exactly how to build the Apache Geronimo source code from scratch."

Quantities/Units Support for Java (JSR-275)

Submitted by Jean-Marie Dautelle 2006-01-16 Java 1 Comment

The latest units/quantities packages (for the upcoming JScience 3.0) has been submitted to the JSR-275 expert group for review. It provides compile time check of quantities consistency through class parameterization. You can browse the proposed API here (two new packages javax.quantities and javax.units). The JScience pre-release implementation is available here: sources, binaries.

GNU Classpath 0.20 Released

Submitted by Mark Wielaard 2006-01-16 Java 13 Comments

GNU Classpath 0.20 has been released. "New StAX pull parser and SAX-over-StAX driver. Full XMLEncoder implementation. The packages javax.sound.sampled, javax.print.attribute and javax.print.event have been implemented. Lots of new datatransfer, print, swing and swing.text work. Performance improvements in the painting/layout mechanism. Additional 1.5 support, including (separate) generic branch release. SecurityManager cleanups and start of review of all Permission checks. Buildable on cygwin. Fully buildable as 'in-workspace' library-plus-vm inside (native) Eclipse. Real world Free Swing and CORBA example added." There is also a Roadmap paper available.

‘Java Is Dead, Long Live Java!’ – the Future of Java

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-14 Java 56 Comments

Although, because of its prominence, Java gets a lot of attention and with it much criticism (some of it valid), many don't realize that some big breakthroughs have arrived and that the Java development landscape is solving important problems. Also, Developer.com posted their "product of the year" awards for 2006. Java related products have the strongest showing with the largest number of awards.

Secure Java Apps on Linux Using MD5 Crypt

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-12 Java 6 Comments

If you are a security developer and need to interface a Java application with the local operating system user registry, what do you do? This article gives you the answer: UNIX/Linux PAM-compatible systems that use authentication based on the GNU MD5 extensions to the crypt() system call. A pure Java implementation of MD5 crypt can provide a simple interface that can be used by Web applications to authenticate against the local UNIX registry.

Java Environments for Linux on POWER Architecture

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-10 Java 1 Comment

"This article provides a brief overview of the currently available Java Development Kits and Java Runtime Environments for Linux on POWER. It covers the Linux distributions running on the IBM eServer iSeries, including eServer i5; eServer pSeries, including eServer p5; eServer BladeCenter JS20; and eServer OpenPower."

Is Java Getting Better with Age?

Eugenia Loli 2006-01-10 Java 20 Comments

A surefire way to ignite a Web flame war is to say one programming language is better than another. James Gosling, known the "father of Java," understands that as well as anybody.

Classpath Hits 98% of Java 1.4

Submitted by anonymous 2006-01-09 Java 31 Comments

"Classpath hit 98% of 1.4 , and I think we'll see another big bump tomorrow since the XMLEncoder patch went in . I think we're in the 90s against 1.5, though it is hard to say since there hasn't been a branch merge in quite a while. Of course, japi isn't the final word on how we're doing, which is why Mark is going to talk about this at FOSDEM. The coming year looks as though it will be a very good one for gcj and Classpath. I think we'll finish 1.5."

Avoiding Java Exception Abuse

Eugenia Loli 2005-12-25 Java 48 Comments

There are always exceptions to the rule, right? In Java, those exceptions allow a clean break from normal program flow in the event of an exceptional situation. They're not used for program flow interruption, but for program flow branching, which can sometimes lead to difficult-to-maintain code. Marcus Zarra walks you through several best practices for using exceptions in Java.