IBM, Java, and the Cloud

The morning JavaOne 2011 Community Keynote began with IBM, presented by Jason McGee, IBM Distinguished Engineer, Chief Architect, Cloud Computing. McGee focused on Java and Cloud computing-the challenges in the language and the JVM for running in the Cloud, how to make your applications elastic and scale well in the Cloud, and the latest innovations (driven by IBM and others) for deploying applications to the Cloud.

McGee explored several recent IBM offerings for the Cloud-including WebSphere eXtreme Scale, a Java based, in-memory data grid product for elastic scalability in Cloud environments; and IBM Workload Deployer, a Cloud deployment and management system for existing virtualized hardware. McGee ended by reiterating IBM's commitment to the Java community, noting their membership in OpenJDK as of 2010.

Community: Best Practices, Innovation, and Learning Resources

Sharat Chander, Principle Product Director, JavaOne Program Committee Chairperson, Oracle began his portion of the keynote by offering a moment of silence in respect for the passing of Apple's Steve Jobs, noting his passion and innovation in the world of technology. The Apple logo briefly appeared on the large screen.

Chander emphasized that Java isn't just about technology, it's also about community. Within this context, he first recognized Mike DeNicola, John Rose, and Patrick Curran, for their outstanding participation and leadership within the JCP this past year. And as part of ever-broadening the Java community, Chander next paid tribute to the Java Dutchess program-with over 400 groups around the world, globally connecting women in Java technology.

From there, Donald Smith, Director of Product Management, Java Platform Group, Oracle invited onstage a panel of representatives from the global Java community: Martijn Verburg, London Java Community; John Duimovich, OpenJDK; Deepak Bhole, OpenJDK; Stephen Chin, SvJugFx; and Bruno Souza, SouJava. The group noted that this was the first JavaOne conference with a community-themed keynote. In true connected community fashion, the group invited those watching the presentation to informally vote (via text message) on Java technologies and initiatives of current and future interest.

The panel members all urged active participation in Java User Groups, from both a technical and professional advancement perspective. Such community involvement not only drives open standards, they declared, but also drives innovation among vendors. The OpenJDK representatives then explored the challenges and promises of the initiative, agreeing that participants should have high expectations for openness, and to push on that. They strongly urged developers to download OpenJDK, and to use it.

Community: Moving Java Forward

Smith explored with the panel how the Java community can best take part in moving Java forward. The consensus was that the process ideally involves vision, innovation, and execution, and that the community can participate at all of these levels-getting involved via JUGs, as well as testing and submitting bug reports, and thereby helping Oracle and other Java vendors build the best and most innovative technologies. One technique being explored at some JUGs, to better facilitate participation, is to both stream them live and offer audio archives via Parleys.com. Within the context of making community content as available as possible, Oracle announced their agreement with Parleys.com to host many of the JavaOne sessions on the learning site-including video, demos, and synchronized audio/slides.

Duke's Choice Award Winners

What JavaOne would be complete without acknowledging the Duke's Choice Award Winners (this year with community input in the selection and review process). Featured onstage were representatives of Rockwell Automation, for their Java Embedded factory floor automation solutions; Sodbeans Project, for their NetBeans-based accessibility suite to aid blind software developers; and JHome, a Glassfish/Java EE-based home automation system for the control of almost any device in the home, including lamps, gates, coffee machines, and more.
Java Posse Comes to Town

To the tune of Spaghetti Western soundtrack music, representatives of the fabled Java Posse next took the stage (to Sharat Chander's mock amazement). The Java Posse site has long been known for its podcasts offering news, discussions, interviews, and "general mayhem" surrounding the world of Java. The Java Posse members emphasized what they see as the three elements of Java-the language, the platform, and (most importantly), the Java community. "We have a development community that other development platforms dream of having," they said. They promised in-depth appearances from many of the Duke's Choice Award winners. And in parting the stage, they deputized Chander as an official honorary member of the Java Posse, presenting him with a 10-gallon hat.

In closing, JavaOne participants were urged to get involved and make their voices heard-to participate in the JavaOne Community Steering Committee, to participate in the JavaOne Program Committee, to submit speaker papers, to participate in the OpenJDK project, and to join a local JUG. Chander parted by noting that JavaOne 2012 would feature a community member as one of the keynote speakers.

Learn More:

WebSphere eXtreme Scale
IBM Workload Deployer
Java Dutchess
2011 Duke's Choice Award Winners
Parleys.com
The Java Posse

Among the big news at JavaOne 2011 was the release of JavaFX 2.0 and announcement of its open source status. As Oracle’s Chief Architect, Client Java Platform Richard Bair observed, “We think this is going to be a really big deal in the industry.” JavaFX 2.0, touted as the next step in the evolution of Java as a rich client platform, is designed to provide a modern Java environment that shortens development time and eases the deployment of data driven-business and enterprise client applications.

Its key features include:

• Java APIs for JavaFX

• FXML -- an XML-based markup language for defining user interfaces

• Seamless integration into Swing applications

• High-performance hardware accelerated graphics

• Embedding of web content into JavaFX

• High-performance media engine

• Improved UI controls library

JavaFX 2.0 enables developers to leverage their existing Java skills and tools to develop JavaFX applications. It offers a clean separation of application UI and logic and simplifies code maintenance while integrating Web content and media seamlessly in Java applications. Developers can more easily create scalable, graphics-rich applications without performance penalties, build sophisticated user interfaces, extend existing Swing applications, and deploy applications in the browser, as desktop, or Web Start applications.

Java APIs for JavaFX include:

• End-to-end Java development

• Java language features—generics, annotations, multi-threading

• Reduced static footprint of runtime and applications

• Fluent API design for UI construction

• Development in alternative languages (e.g., JRuby, Groovy) with JavaFX

• Leverage sophisticated Java IDEs, debuggers and profilers

• Java APIs preserve convenient JavaFX Script features (e.g., bind)

Other features to take note of in JavaFX 2.0:

FXML

• Scriptable, XML-based markup language for defining user interfaces

• Convenient alternative to developing UI programmatically in Java

• Easy to learn and intuitive for developers familiar with web technologies or other markup based UI technologies

• Powerful scripting feature allows embedding scripts within a FXML file. Any JVM scripting language can be used, including JavaScript, Groovy, and Clojure, among others

New Graphics Pipeline for Modern GPUs

• New hardware accelerated graphics pipeline (Prism)

• New windowing toolkit (Glass) for Prism

• Java2D software pipeline for unsupported graphics hardware

• High-level support for making rich graphics simple: Shadows, Blurs, Reflections, Effects, 2D and 3D transforms

Rich Set of UI Controls

• Over 50 components for form-based UI, including charts, layout and form controls

• CSS3+ skinning and layout of UI controls

• Advanced UI controls, including table, tree view, rich text editor

Web Component

• Embed Web content in JavaFX applications

• HTML and JavaScript rendering based on Webkit

• DOM access and manipulation from Java

Browser Plug-in Refreshed for JavaFX 2.0

• Loading of JavaFX applets based on Prism

• Preloader for JavaFX applets for improved user experience

Powerful Properties Model

• New collections ObservableList, Sequence and ObservableMap

• New design and implementation of bean properties

• Low level binding API for high performance, low footprint bindings

• High level binding API for simple usage

Improved Animation Engine

• Optimized implementation of transitions

• Complete overhaul of API to simplify usage and in preparation of optimized and more stable implementation

Approximately 50 JavaFX 2.0 sessions can be found at JavaOne given by leading JavaFX movers and shakers. JavaFX is the next step in the evolution of Java as a rich client platform. Congratulations to all involved!