Moderator (MDR): Andrea:

Guest-Speaker (SPK): Mark Reinhold

MDR-Andrea: Happy New Year and welcome to Java Live. Today's topic is the JDK^TM 1.2. Our guest is lead engineer Mark Reinhold. We are ready to go, so please begin to send in your questions.

For those not familiar with moderated forums, questions appear privately to me first, and then I forward them into the forum for everyone to see.

johar: What updates, if any, have been made to RMI in JDK 1.2?

SPK-Mark: Perhaps I should start by saying that there's an awful lot of new stuff in JDK 1.2. As lead engineer I'm familiar with some, but not all, of the new features. I can best answer questions about I/O, the VM, garbage collection, the compiler, and the core packages (java.{lang,io,util,net}). I'll do my best with questions in other areas, but in many cases I'll have to refer you to the JDK 1.2 release documentation on the web site. RMI is, I'm afraid, one of those cases.

ajayebi: Will HotSpot be in JDK 1.2? What is the time frame? Does JavaSoft^TM or SunSoft^TM have plans to offer native compiler for Sparc^TM?

SPK-Mark: The HotSpot VM is not slated to be part of JDK 1.2 itself, though we do plan to ship it at about the same time. If by "native compiler" you mean a static compiler for the Java platform, I don't know of any current plans in JavaSoft to produce one. I can't speak for SunSoft.

shangc: Can you tell us whether HotSpot will live up to the promise that it will meet or beat C++ compiled code?

SPK-Mark: I can't say much about particular HotSpot performance results. The HotSpot team has been making very good progress, and I've seen some impressive demos. I'm pretty confident that it will do quite well.

derocher: I'm concerned with the deprecated thread methods. Are there examples available to help us avoid using these methods in the future?

SPK-Mark: In the release notes there's a fairly complete explanation of why we deprecated certain methods in the Thread class. It contains suggestions on how to avoid using them in new code.

derocher: What is the current time frame for releasing the "final" version of JDK 1.2?

SPK-Mark: Second quarter of calendar year 1998.

EdL1: What platforms will the HotSpot VM support? How will it be distributed/marketed?

SPK-Mark: Initially the HotSpot VM will run on Win32 and Solaris. I'm not sure about the distribution and marketing plans.

minchang: I looked at the servlet extension in JDK 1.2 beta and found some changes in the servlet API compared to Java^TM Web Server^TM 1.1 beta. Will the API change on the road to a JDK 1.2 production release? What's the relationship between the servlet API in JDK and the servlet API in the Java Web Server?

SPK-Mark: The servlet API in the JDK is intended to be in sync with the API shipped with the Java Web Server. It might be refined a little bit more, but once JWS 1.1 ships (or JDK 1.2 ships, I don't know which is scheduled to be first) it will be frozen.

Freddie: I have a question about JavaSound. In the Java Sound FAQ I read that it will be distributed in two phases. The first part ships with JDK 1.2 and the full-featured API will ship shortly after the JDK 1.2 release. I'm interested in the second part: When will this API be in early access? Or is it possible to beta test it? (I hope this question isn't too off-topic.)

SPK-Mark: My understanding is that the JavaSound API will ship as a standard extension some time after JDK 1.2. I suggest you contact the Java Media folks (there should be an email address in the FAQ) for more complete information.

derocher: What plans exist to help Netscape incorporate JDK 1.2 functionality? We are now at least 10 months past the final version of JDK 1.1 and Netscape has yet to be able to handle all of its functionality. What assurances are there that we won't have to wait until mid-1999 for Netscape to support JDK 1.2?

SPK-Mark: We are very much aware of the fact that Navigator still hasn't caught up with JDK 1.1. We're working very closely with Netscape to ensure that Navigator will be compliant with JDK 1.2 soon after 1.2 ships, but I really can't say more about our specific plans.

edgarn: How close is the garbage collector to being "non-disruptive"? Is it still extremely expensive to do a System.gc() call?

SPK-Mark: The garbage collector is quite a bit faster in JDK 1.2 than in previous releases, though it can still be somewhat disruptive. The HotSpot GC is much, much better in this regard—in typical use its pauses are well under 100 milliseconds.

The cost of calling System.gc+ depends upon the size of the heap and the amount of live data within it. In general this will always be potentially expensive, even with the HotSpot GC, since System.gc forces a GC of the entire heap. We don't recommend that applications call this method during ordinary operation.

kchaganti: What is JavaBlend release or prerelease date?

SPK-Mark: JavaBlend is not part of the JDK. I know nothing about its release schedule.

bst5qi: Is it possible to detect and react to user shutdown in JDK 1.2? In JDK 1.1 there is no such possibility and an application just is finished on user shutdown without a chance to do some cleaning up!! And will the quality of the AWT finally become acceptable, the fifth bug fix release of JDK 1.1 is out and still the AWT's quality hasn't improved remarkingly (still crashes and deadlocks...)? Are you at JavaSoft really aware of the poor quality of the JRE?

SPK-Mark: I assume that by "user shutdown" you mean catching ^C (or whatever is appropriate for the platform). No, we haven't added this to 1.2, though it has been discussed. If this is important to you I suggest you file an RFE through our bug-tracking system.

By the way, in general filing RFEs is a very good way to make suggestions about what you'd like to see in the JDK.

We're very aware of the quality problems with the AWT. We have many more people working on it now than ever before. Look for significant improvements in both JDK 1.1.6 and JDK 1.2.

jbrasch: Will there be a BeanBox beta for 1.2 that demonstrates some of the new bean functionality?

SPK-Mark: Sorry, but I don't know the answer to this question. I suggest you contact the JavaBeans^TM team directly, using the email address at the bottom of the Beans web page.

mzimmerm: There has been some speculation that the "platform tuned" HotSpot may be sold separately. Are you in a position to say whether this has any substance and if so, would it mean that "Platform tuned" HotSpot would not be part of the publicly available JDK?

SPK-Mark: I don't know exactly what has been announced regarding the sales and distribution of the HotSpot VMs, so I'll play it safe here and say "no comment."

drpierce: What are Sun's plans to release the Java Shared Data API as a release as opposed to a research project?

SPK-Mark: I have no idea what the "Shared Data API" is. Does it have some other name?

drpierce: The Java Shared Data API (JSDA) had been on the API roadmap with the 2D and 3D APIs. These APIs were released with the JDK 1.2 beta without the JSDA. From URL http://developer.javasoft.com/developer/
misc/jsda/jsda.html, The Java Shared Data API (JSDA) defines a multipoint data delivery service that supports highly interactive, collaborative, multimedia applications. The last update by Rich Burridge was version 1.09 in Oct 97.

SPK-Mark: Ah. I'm afraid I don't know the answer to this question. I suggest you contact the 2D team directly.

rlowe1: Hello, What kind of support for LDAP will there be in JDK1.2

SPK-Mark: Currently there are no plans to support LDAP directly in JDK 1.2. It is supported by the Java^TM Naming and Directory Interface^TM (JNDI), which is slated to ship as a separate product.

glen_s: In Java 2D, could you give any explanation of the differing raster types--specifically, component raster versus packed raster. Where would you use each one? Which would you use for a 16-bit gray scale image?

SPK-Mark: Sorry again, but I haven't had much time to play with the new 2D features, so I don't know the answer to this question.

mzimmerm: I have been using Swing for a while and I am excited by it. In general, is JavaSoft's position that developers should not use heavyweight AWT components at all in the future? (I for one, do not intend to ;-)

SPK-Mark: I can't speak to JavaSoft's "official position" on this. It certainly seems that the intent of the Swing team is to make heavyweight AWT components a thing of the past, and I can say from my own use of the Swing APIs that I can't see any reason to go back.

MaryJaneSoft: What is the most significant change between JDK 1.1 and JDK 1.2?

SPK-Mark: That's a very difficult question. I think it really depends upon how you use the JDK. For folks writing GUI applications, by far the most significant new features are the Swing APIs and the other JFC APIs (2D, drag & drop, etc.). The new security features are also pretty significant. Finally—and this is something that hasn't been touted much—the VM is much more robust than in JDK 1.1. This will mean a lot to people using the JDK in mission-critical applications.

danno: Are there any plans to add new demos to the JDK 1.2 shipment to show off the new special features?

SPK-Mark: We've already added some JFC demos, in particular several demos of the Swing APIs. There are a few more in the queue. There will also be a fair amount of illustrative code in the documentation download.

derocher: Can you give us some insight into the time frame for the release after JDK 1.2? Will version 1.2 be around as long as version 1.1 has been? Or are there plans to put out another version's beta sometime in 1998?

SPK-Mark: It's very difficult to predict the future. I expect we'll be doing bug-fix releases of JDK 1.2 for quite some time after the release. I can't say much about our post-1.2 plans at this point.

jdempsey: Are there plans to include an ORB in JDK 1.2? If so, will it make products like Visibroker and OrbixWeb obsolete?

SPK-Mark: JDK 1.2 includes IDL support. I'm afraid I don't know whether or not that means we're shipping an ORB. I suspect we are, but IDL is another one of the features I don't know much about.

frankbert: Is JDK 1.2 going to come with some kind of byte code to native assembly code compiler? I realize that this may violate some notions of Write Once, Run Anywhere^TM, but having an executable is definitely a good thing.

SPK-Mark: JDK 1.2 does not include a static compiler. It does support "Java executables," which allow you to set up a Java program to be invoked by double-clicking or via the command line on many systems. In combination with HotSpot, this feature should give you most of the benefits of static compilation while still being true Java.

derocher: You mention that the VM is much more robust in JDK 1.2. Would you elaborate on that comment?

SPK-Mark: A good example of how we've made the VM more robust is the complete rewrite of the class loading and linking code that was done for 1.2. This eliminated many pernicious race conditions and deadlocks. We've done a lot of work in other areas that have improved the VM's quality.

MDR-Andrea: Thanks to everyone for joining—especially Mark. We've run out time for this week, and unfortunately we weren't able to get to all of the questions. You can send further comments and questions to jdk-comments@java.sun.com. Be sure to join us next week for a discussion of Swing and Java Foundation Classes—same time, same place.