Speakers Alan Brenner (AlanB), Adam Abramski, and Tasneem Sayeed
Moderator Edward Ort (MDR-edO)
This is a moderated forum.
MDR-edO: Welcome to Java Live! Our focus today is the JavaTM 2 Platform, Micro Edition and the K Virtual Machine. Our guests are Alan Brenner, Engineering manager, and Adam Abramski, Product manager, in Sun's consumer and technologies team. Also joining us is Tasneem Sayeed, KVM developer. They'll answer your questions about J2ME and KVM. So let's begin. Who has the first question?
Jonathan Knudsen: When are you planning the next release?
AlanB: The next release, DR5, is targeted 12/20/99. Final first product - is 3/00
Jorge: I would like to know why the support for java.io.* and java.net.* classes was removed from the early access release.
Tasneem: The java.io and java.net classes were removed from the DR4 release because they are going through the Java Community Process and are bound to change. However, these classes have been added back in the upcoming release which is currently under test, and we hope to deliver it within a week.
Ken: I know I am clearly outnumbered by Palm platform, but is the KVM going be available for the Palm-sized WinCE devices?
Tasneem: No support planned for WinCE, but we and our partners are watching the issue.
Sing: Will SUN be supporting a "Palm OS specific" extension library directly, or will this be a third party exercise?
AlanB: Reply to Sing's query about a Palm OS specific extension library is Stay Tuned.
Kevin: A KVM was distributed at JavaOneSM — What's the difference between this and the 0.1 release?
Tasneem: The difference between 0.1 and the JavaOne release is that 0.1 had the java.net and java.io libraries removed, and a lot of bug fixes. The java.net and java.io libraries have been added back in and will be available within a week or so.
dcalhoun: When will the KVM provide support for JINITM (if ever)?
AlanB: Jini support is essential and we are actively working on Jini integration. Our short term focus(1st release) is on providing infrastructure to provision Java applications to J2ME devices. Proxy provisioning is likely a 2nd release item.
Mike Canaday: The current KVM seems very specific to embedded devices. What are your plans, if any, to allow spotlets to run "anywhere"?
Tasneem: The KVM is targetted for devices in the 128K to 512K space. For devices in this space, KVM will allow Spotlets to run "anywhere" .
Alan Weiler: Hello to all. We have a Java application that is used to display content such as advertising, training or entertainment. A key feature that we look for in the target is the ability to layer bitmap sprites on top of each other. Can the KVM show bitmapped images with a transpaprent color, as in the gif format? Can the KVM show bitmap images of any size, subject to the limits of memory? And, on another topic, are arrays in the KVM limited to just one dimension? Thanks, Alan Weiler, Kallisto Productions, Inc.
AlanB: In response in Alan's question about layering bitmaps, Tough question and we don't have an answer today. In fact, the GUI API for J2ME is being defined by a separate expert group for the Mobile Information Device Profile. That group was just kicked off last week.
Jonathan Knudsen: What's your GUI strategy for the KVM? Do you want to emulate AWT, or Swing, or make something entirely new?
Tasneem: Jonathan, The UI will likely be something new since the AWT and Swing is too large to fit on the devices that KVM is targetted for. Sun has also been researching a number of alternative UI solutions. This whole effort is currently undergoing the Java Community Process.
Jason Stell: Since the premise for Java compatibility has gone from write once, run anywhere to write once, run on any VM of profile "X", are there current efforts to standardize several device profiles -- PDA, webphone, kitchen appliance.
AlanB: Yes, there is. We are starting with the Mobile Information Device profile(MID) — targeted at cell phones and pagers. PDA's, POS terminals, STB's are possible next steps.
Jorge: I'd like to see a KVM implementation for cellular phones and run it in a phone emulator. Is any of Sun's partners developing one?
Tasneem: Yes, we are actually looking at a phone emulator. What hasn't been decided is who would deliver such an emulator, but certainly we realize that we need to assist developers in writing Java applications/content for KVM enabled phones.
Yvonne: Who are some of your partners and what do they plan on using the J2ME for?
AlanB: Some of our partners who have demostrated J2ME and more specifically KVM devices are Matsushita, Mitsuibishi, Fujitsu, Motorola, NEC, 3Com/Palm and Sony.
mike c: Debug support question. I have been playing with the 0.1 release, using both the palmV and POSE. This is my my first exposure to programming for this class of device and it is a lot of fun! However, I feel separation anxiety from the source level symbolic debugging provided by my IDE. What sort of strategies do you use for debugging on the palm? — Do you have any plans to support symbolic debugging?
Tasneem: Debugging support is currently being looked on and it's definitely in our plan. We know that debugging support is definitely a requirement for application developers.
Bob Evans: I understand that the KVM is still being developed, but it would help if Sun had some type of developer site where sample applications could be showcased and viewed, even if they are based on an early release of the KVM. I know of a handful of existing KVM web pages, but none are really in a tutorial mode. It seems you need to know how to use the KVM before you start learning about it. There are aspects of the KVM my organization is interested in, but I still don't have a good idea as to what I can really do with it yet. Bob Evans, Johns Hopkins University/Applied Physics Lab
Jonathan Knudsen: Answer for Bob Evans: Bill Day has a good starting page for KVM development: Bill Day KVMArchive
Sing: Are we still aiming for a 40k bytes VM and 80k bytes minimal library footprint as of today?
Tasneem: Yes, the KVM will be around 40K and we expect the total available footprint to be around 128K?
kj: Two questions: 1) Is there plan to support data type "float" in KVM 2) I read that KVM is supposed to be upward compatible with , say JDK 1.2, but I can't see how a Java program using class in KJVM library (not sure I spelled it right) will run under JDK 1.2?
Tasneem: The support for floats is currently undergoing the Java Community Process. J2ME classes that are not part of Java2SE will live in a separate package name space and will be supported for compatibility in Java2SE.
AlanB: To answer Bob's question: Great question! There is work being done on a Web tutorial for KVM and should be out soon. Also, there are existing example KVM's applications in the DR4 binary release. I am interested in exploring the possiblity of having KVM example apps from the 3rd party and host them on either the JDC or KVM Home page. Also, there is a KVM-INTEREST@java.sun.com listserv where some people from the community that have set up tutorials/FAQ type pages to help out. You may want to look at Sun's Archives under KVM-INTEREST and search for example or FAQ or tutorial.
Jorge: What about Java TM(JNI) support?
Tasneem: The JNI libraries are too big to fit on these class of devices. However, we are looking into lighter-weight solutions.
Govind: In KVM, do we have APIs to talk to existing Palm applications such as AddressBook?
Tasneem: No, we don't have any such APIs at present. But, Sun is working with Palm Computing on a PalmOS Reference implementation for the KVM.
Sing: Will there ever be a ROMable version of the KVM? Is ROMability a target?
Tasneem: Yes, we are looking into ROMizing the KVM.
Jerry Brown: I know it is difficult when things are so fluid, but can you post some accurate, up-to-date documentation on installation, conversion to PRC and PDB files, etc? Most of the docs refer to the JavaOne release, and there are a number of changes.
AlanB: Hi Jerry, this is Adam Abramski. On the KVM-INTEREST list there is some documentation/install guide that has been referenced. I would search on the archives of the KVM-INTEREST list to find this document. Also, it's our intention to have "better" documentation with each release of the KVM.
Jorge: When is it expected to be an API specification for the KVM and the J2ME?
Tasneem: The objective of the Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC), which is currently undergoing the Java Community Process, is to have the specification available to the general public by the end of December.
Sing: Can the KVM be ported directly to microprocessors with different Endian configuration, word sizes, and IO architectures? Or will it be Motorola-compatible only for the time being?
Tasneem: Yes, the KVM has already been ported to about 20 different platforms.
Govind: How can I execute the developed classes on PC before converting and deploying them to Palm
AlanB: This is Adam again. My understanding is that you can use the POSE emulator with Java applications before loading them onto the device. Again, this has been a topic of discussion on the list.
Gregory Bonk: Are there any plans to support a floating point type? Are there any strategies to calcualte and display a float?
Tasneem: Yes, as stated earlier, the CLDC (Connected Limited Device Configuration) libraries are still undergoing the Java Community Process.
MDR-edO: Well, our hour has gone by. I want to thank our participants for some excellent questions. And I'd like to especially thank our guests Alan Brenner, Tasneem Sayeed, and Adam Abramski.
AlanB: We'll have to do this again! We really enjoyed answering your questions. Please make sure you all are subscribed to the KVM-INTEREST listserv , to subscribe just check out the bottom of the KVM Home page. KVM Thanks again, Adam
Tasneem: Thank you everyone! We had some very interesting questions.
MDR-edO: Signing off.
MDR-edO: Last moderator (me) signing off. The forum is now unmoderated
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