Tag: java

Here’s Sun’s wrapup from JavaOne 2009 this year.

In short here’s my own thoughts of the main highlghts – only a couple but this is what really stood out for me:

• Java 7 and it’s modules system, plus no longer need the Classpath!
• The continued push of JavaFX. Seeing more demos and getting into some code, I actually see the benefits of JavaFXScript now, and will be spending some time learning some more

I wasn’t at JavaOne this year on the day they had Microsoft there giving the keynote, but watching the recording of the session, one has to wonder what was their driving motivation to present at JavaOne in front of several thousand Java developers. Yes, I get it, interoperability is important, but Microsoft is the last company you’d think of if you mention the term interoperability.

Bearing in mind their repeated and well known ‘Embrace, Extend, Extinguish’ strategy which they already tried with Java once before with J++ and the Windows Foundation Classes, which failed miserably, one can only be suspicious and wonder what they are up to. Have they really reached a point where they are so worried about the increasing popularity and momentum behind the Java platform that there was a ‘you better send someone down to JavaOne this month to talk to those Java developers’ moment in Redmond? I’m sure we’ll never find out the real reason behind their appearance at JavaOne this year, but based on their prior attempts to kill off Java because it was seen as a threat to Microsoft, this presentation only makes me want to avoid anything Microsoft related like the plague. ‘We come in peace’ – yeah right, I’m sure you do.

There always seems to be an common theme to each JavaOne conference, and this year although I only got to attend the CommunityOne day and then the first day of JavaOne, it appears there is a continued focus on the community and building social networking tools and sites, and a continued push for JavaFX.

It seems the last couple of years pushing specific technologies has taken a backseat instead to focus on what you can do with the technology. There was the mobile push for a while, then social networking, community building and open source, and for the last 2 years, JavaFX to build engaging client-side apps.

I admit this year JavaFX curiosity got the better of me. Two years ago (?) JavaFX was announced with lots of smoke and mirror demos. Last year it was released. This year they’re stil pushing it hard with plenty of sessions, so I decided to attend a few of the sessions to find out what it’s all about. I’m impressed with the goals and aims of the FXScript language. It got me really interested to see a domain specific language like this and how much of the plumbing and technical details can be abstracted away. My main interest coming away from the sessions was not how can I use JavaFX, but how and when will the main Java language evolve to provide domain specific abstractions so we think less about the technologies – JSP pages, Servlets, EJBs, data access etc, and think about build business systems declaratively – will this ever happen?

This morning’s keynote at day 1 of JavaOne 2009 had an interesting surprise – Scott McNealy came on stage and introduced the new owner of Sun Microsystems, Larry Ellison. I think this was the first time that Ellison had appeared in public to discuss the Oracle buy out of Sun. It was an interesting dynamic on the stage. Scott led up to the introduction of Ellison with a number of jokes about advertising Java on the America’s Cup yacht etc, so it was pretty light hearted, but there was some awkward moments where it was obvious seeing the two side by side – Ellison was full of energy and enthusiasm like a young boy with a new toy, and McNealy seems somewhat down and reserved… as I think you would be if you were talking to the person who had just swooped in and bought out the company you co-founded.

Ellison was surprisingly enthusiastic about JavaFX, and made comments that he’d like to see the Sun Open Office team continue and enhance Open Office using JavaFX – both surprising statements since Open Office and JavaFX were suggested by some to be high on the list of products/technologies that Oracle may ditch.

It was an interesting point in history where Sun Microsystems as we know it comes to an end, and Java continues into the future under the new stewardship of Oracle.