Evolutionary Next-Steps - Technical Keynote JavaOne 2011
By Janice J. Heiss on Oct 17, 2011
From there,
Ashok Joshi, Senior Director of Development NoSQL Database, briefly
discussed performance tuning with Intel of the newly announced Oracle
NoSQL Database product.
From Evolution to Revolution: Java 7 to Java 8
Following
Joshi, Mark Reinhold, Chief Architect of the Java Platform Group at
Oracle, reviewed the history of Java 7, and its “Plan B” paradigm of
including Project Coin (JSR 334), InvokeDynamic (JSR 292), and the
Fork/Join Framework in the just-released Java 7, while incorporating
Project Jigsaw and Project Lambda in the upcoming Java 8. Reinhold then
explored the evolutionary benefits of these key new features of the Java
7 release -- offering both greater ease of development, and significant
performance benefits. “Not only are these features available in Java 7
today,” noted Reinhold, “but as of last week, they are now supported in
all three of the major Java IDEs.”
Reinhold next detailed plans
for the upcoming Java 8 release, which promises more revolutionary
features beyond the evolutionary offerings of Java 7. Project Lambda
(JSR 335) will bring closures to the Java programming language. And
Project Jigsaw (JSR TBD) aims to define a standard module system -- not
just for application code, but for the platform itself.
JavaFX 2.0 is Here!
Richard
Bair, Chief Architect, Client Java Platform, Oracle, then dove into the
official debut of JavaFX 2.0, along with some stunning demos of the new
facility, presented by several colleagues. Java FX 2.0 is Oracle’s
premier development environment for rich client applications. Bair
emphasized that JavaFX 2.0 was designed to offer:
Cross Platform
Leverage Java
Advanced Tooling
Developer Productivity
Amazing User Interfaces.
“We
naturally want user interfaces that look good and work well,” said
Bair. “It used to be just eye candy, but now it’s becoming a required
feature for the things we write. We’re announcing today the general
availability of JavaFX 2.0, at JavaFX.com. We think this is going to be a
really big deal in the industry.”
An important aspect of any UI
technology is a good visual development tool, and Bair next announced
early access for the JavaFX Scene Builder, which will first be made
available to select partners, then expanded to a general beta, and then a
full release. But for those at JavaOne, an early build of the tool will
be running and available for demo at the DEMOgrounds.
A series
of stunning demos -- several of them BSD licensed caused much enthusiasm
-- then took JavaFX 2.0 out for a spin, and clearly showed the
possibilities and potentials of the new release -- including animated 3D
audio EQ mapping, and a navigable 3D virtual room that featured live
video of Oracle colleague Jasper Potts displayed on a wall monitor,
along with real-time mimicking of Potts’ movements by a virtual Java
Duke figure.
Bair noted that there are over 50 JavaFX sessions at
JavaOne, and said that for anyone who attended all of them -- “I’ll buy
you dinner!”
Moving Java EE into the Cloud
From
there, Linda DeMichiel, Java EE 7 Specification Lead, explored the
upcoming Java EE 7 release. “What’s new with the Java EE platform?”
asked DeMichiel. “We’re moving Java EE into the Cloud. Our focus on this
release is providing support for Platform as a Service. We want to
provide a way for customers and users of the platform to leverage
public, private and hybrid clouds. With Java EE 7, our focus is on the
platform itself as a service, which can be leveraged in cloud
environments.”
DeMichiel’s colleague, Arun Gupta, then
demonstrated deployment of a Java EE application as a PaaS, using
Glassfish 4.0. Both the application and instructions on how to replicate
the demo are available online.
More Java Cards than People?
Lastly, Hinkmond Wong,
of Oracle’s Java Embedded group, covered the latest in mobile and
embedded Java, noting the three billion Java enabled phones and five
billion Java Cards in the world today. “There are about 6.5 billion
people in the world,” noted Wong, “and five billion Java Cards.”
2011
saw the introduction of Near Field Communication (NFC) payment system,
including e-Passport in Java ME, allowing for mobile-to-mobile and
machine-to-machine transactions with embedded security. Wong detailed
the many new Java ME releases for 2011, along with several mobile and
embedded technology demos—from cell phones to Blu-ray players.
The overflow crowd left the opening technical keynote energized – a real good start to this JavaOne!
Learn More:
Java 7 Features
Java SE 7 Features and Enhancements
A Look at Java 7's New Features
Contribute to JDK 8
JavaFX Homepage
JavaFX Overview
Java EE at a Glance
Java for Mobile Devices
Oracle NoSQL Database
