Java SE TCK weblog

JCK 6 beta

The JCK (Java Compatibility Kit) is the TCK (Technology Compatibility Kit) for the Java SE platform. A TCK is a test suite designed to verify that implementations of a particular technology conform to the corresponding specifications.
The JCK is a big and complex product that includes conformance tests, tools and documentation. It currently contains over 80,000 test cases and several million lines of code.

For additional information on TCKs and conformance, see Patrick Curran's blog.

The JCK team has been working hard on JCK 6, the TCK for Java SE 6 (also known as Mustang).
2005 was an amazing year for us. We started working on the JCK 6 release during the second half of 2004 with a new team of engineers located in St. Petersburg, Russia.
This team has done a phenomenal job of coming up to speed in a short amount of time and delivering high-quality conformance tests for Mustang. Given the complexity of the JCK and of the new features in Mustang, this is no mean feat!

We recently released JCK 6 beta.
We have added almost 3000 test cases for new Mustang features in this release. Major new Mustang features for which coverage is included in this release are listed below:

1. JMX (Java Management Extensions)
2. JAF (JavaBeans Activation Framework)
3. JSR 105: XML Digital Signature
4. JSR 250: Common Annotations
5. JSR 202: Java Class File specification update
6. JAXB 2.0
7. JSR 223: Scripting for Java

Not all new Mustang features are covered in JCK 6 beta. JCK test development typically lags the work being done by the RI development team, since we need the specifications to be reasonably stable before developing tests. We are on track for providing additional coverage in our second beta release, JCK 6 beta2. The major new Mustang features that are not covered in JCK 6 beta are listed below:

1. JSR 224: JAX-WS 2.0
2. JAXP 1.4
3. JDBC 4.0
4. JSR 269: Standard pluggability API for annotation processors (APT)
5. JSR 199: Java compiler API
6. JDBC Rowsets

So what's next?
We are proud of the work our team has done in JCK 6 beta. Working on this release has been fun and challenging. The fun and challenge continues: in addition to working on JCK 6 beta2, we are also starting to plan for the next JCK release, which will include additional coverage in certain areas of the Java SE platform.

Gauri Sharma
JCK 6 project lead

Posted by gauri ( Feb 15 2006, 09:24:57 AM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]

The Java SE TCK team

We are the Java SE TCK team.

A TCK (Technology Compatibility Kit) is a test suite designed to verify that implementations of a Java technology conform to the corresponding specifications. We are responsible for developing the TCK for the Java SE platform. This TCK is known as the JCK (Java Compatibility Kit). We also develop TCKs for various technologies that start out as standalone "optional packages" but that we expect will be incorporated into the platform at some point (for example, JAXP and JAXB).

For additional information on TCKs and conformance, see Patrick Curran's blog.

We have been working on the JCK since the early days of Java, and we've come a long way in defining and implementing the principles of conformance testing. In addition to conformance tests, we also create tools that help us with the test development process. Conformance testing is interesting work, and we often have to find creative solutions to difficult technical problems.

The JCK team is located in Santa Clara, USA and St. Petersburg, Russia.We have about 30 people in our team. Working in a globally dispersed team has its challenges, and it is also fun. We regularly visit each other at our respective sites and we enjoy working in a culturally diverse environment.

This is our group's blog, so different members of the team will be writing on a variety of topics.

Gauri Sharma
JCK 6 project lead

Posted by gauri ( Feb 09 2006, 12:17:32 PM PST ) Permalink Comments [0]