Monday November 13, 2006
Java ME, SE and EE: Open Source, Open Source and, yes Open Source
Filed under: javame opensource
We've been climbing
this particular mountain for a number of years now (since I was a small
child, it seems). Many have been impatient
for us to reach the top for a quite some time. Our bosses passed us
the flag to plant at JavaOne. We finally took
the hint and did a press
event as the summit came into view in August. Given that there is
so little surprise left in what Sun
is announcing today, it still feels momentous and more than a
little
delicious to get to the top and look out at the view:Has there ever been a larger single donation of source code into open source before ?
The source for all three of our Java platform implementations: Java ME, Java SE and Java EE are going out under GPLv2. (Yes, the licence the Linux community uses.)
Blink.
That's the view from the top !
In the JDK team, we're open sourcing the javac compiler
and Hotspot today, on the new OpenJDK website, with the
rest to follow next year. There's plenty of scaffolding holding things
up for now. If you're not already busy in the JCP working
on the API
specifications for Java SE, come join us in as the
infrastructure and governance model takes shape for our implementation
for Java SE over the next few months.PS. Yes, Java EE's implementation Glassfish was already open source, so now its doubly so :-)
Posted by dannycoward ( Nov 13 2006, 12:02:05 AM PST ) Permalink Comments [6]
Tuesday November 07, 2006
Java SE 6 Pops its Cork !
Filed under: javase6
You can all uncross your fingers and toes, because Java SE 6 has passed through its last stage before full release by passing its final approval ballot in the JCP Executive Committee. Java SE 6 has cleared the runway and is ready to land !
As a member of the EC I have been watching the voting over the last couple of weeks since the ballot started (practicing how not to react). My fingernails now start above the wrist. Here are all the JSRs that were on the ballot:-
-
JSR 199, the
Java Compiler API, which Peter
led.- JSR 202, the update to Class the file specification, led by Gilad.
- Lance led, JSR 221, JDBC 4.0.
- The Scripting for the Java Platform JSR 223, that Mike led.
- JSR 269, Joe's Pluggable Annotation APIs.
- JSR 268, the SmartCard I/O, which Andreas led, and which is not officially part of the platform, but is available in our JDK.
- and finally, the umbrella JSR that brings them all together, the platform JSR 270 which Mark led.
This, as you well know, is not a full listing of all the JSRs that are newly included in Java SE 6, because some of them had already completed. I hope everyone who participated either in the expert groups, implementation, compatibility tests or reviewing APIs along the way, feels really, really good about their contribution today.
There are just a few more checks to make before we do the full release in the next few weeks.
I know its not the only election going on today, but... W O O H O O !!
Posted by dannycoward ( Nov 07 2006, 09:58:27 AM PST ) Permalink Comments [9]
Thursday November 02, 2006
Touring Europe
Filed under: postcards
The world kept turning, of course, as I was on the road for the last couple of weeks.
Part
vacation, part work: meeting up with our Java SE teams from Grenoble
and Dublin, and dropping in to the NetBeans team in Prague.The Java SE 6 platform JSR and its component JSRs entered the JCP Final Approval Ballot. So Java SE 6 is in the home straight now as the ballot ending is the go ahead for us to be able to release it. I hope all your fingers and toes are crossed.
JSR 277 produced an Expert Draft, and has been stirring up some controversy to keep us from getting boring. The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
Mike Ernst and my new JSR 308 passed its inception ballot, which aims to extend the annotation mechanism first introduced in JSR 175 by allowing annotations to be slipped into various hitherto forbidden places. The expert group is open, so go nominate yourself if have some spare time to devote to helping out.
While in Prague, a highlight was to meet the NetBeans evangelists. Such a high energy bunch. Its like a Marketing bird mated with the Engineering bird, and out of the eggs hatched this brood.
Does it surprise you to know that Roman is more effervescent in person than on his blog ?
I also gave a talk about Java SE 7 to the Czech Java Users Group. Since you and I have no secrets, here are the slides. Someone had a video camera there, so I believe I should be able to point you to recording in the next week or so. Should you want to see the real thing.
[I haven't seen it yet, but if I look flustered, its because I, in a moment of gallantry, allowed an elderly lady to go ahead of me on the Prague Metro. You know, snowy haired, kindly looking, harried, grateful. But once I had calibrated her glacial walking pace from behind, I had lost sight of the rest of the NetBeans gang, any rational connection with knowledge of the venue I was due to speak at in 10 minutes, and most of my sanity. Thanks to Tim for rescuing me...]
Speaking of cameras, I also developed a new YouTube crush. Gary Brolsma, lonelygirl15, geriatric1927: over, over and over. CBS may have Katie Couric, but we have our own MaryMaryQuiteContrary, who has unleashed her sparkling persona into visual form.
Since I know you are better read that I am, I'll tell you that my trip acquired an spooky literary dimension. Hardly a week after my dad recommended Stendahl's Le Rouge et le Noir (I'm catching up on my European classics), was I eating at a restaurant in Grenoble feet from where its hero awaits his execution in prision. And having recently read Milan Kundera's The Unbearable Lightness of Being, a few days later I was dining on Petrin Hill overlooking Prague, scene of a pivotal moment for the 'heavy' Tereza.
I'm glad to be home !
Posted by dannycoward ( Nov 02 2006, 12:42:38 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [3]
