This month Technical Article is in the field of Information Technology, a little twist from previous articles. Since I am specilized in Java platform and the open source community I like to talk about Whats new in Java Platform. Lots of new and cool features coming up to the Java Platform Word. While I like to talk in-depth about some of these feature I know the majority of the AAAEA members are not from the IT world. So I will try to keep it simple and informative to both IT Professionals and hobiests. If you are not one of those you can skip to the social section :)

   The New Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 1.6 update 10 is formaly known as the Consumer JRE is focused on two areas. The desktop Applications and the Mobile devices. After stabling the Server side Sun Microsystems' (the company behind Java) main foucs now is how to increase the market share of Java on the computer desktops and on the mobile devices.

   The JRE on the desktop is the engine that runs all Java standalone applications and the Java applets (those that run inside the browser). So on the desktop many new features are coming with the new Consumer JRE. Here are some:

   Performance: Sun's JRE has been steadily getting faster over the years, and this is no exception. The Key performance improvements with this release is the introduction of Java Quick Starter, which will substantially improve Java cold start time on most systems, and a new graphics pipeline on Windows.
  The Java cold start time is the time when you start a Java based application the very first time when you do not even have JRE installed on you machine. This is what causes the perception that java startup is slow. The new improvement here is “sub-setting” approach, breaking up the monolithic Java platform into discrete chunks of functionality that get downloaded and installed according to what any specific application needs, but to then stream down the rest of the platform in the background. The order of the download of these chunks may vary between different setups but it follows the following rules:

• Download base functionality that every application needs (VM, garbage collector, security, classloader, and enough basic networking functionality to be able to download the rest of the bits)
• Download additional dependencies that this application specifies
• Download any "Class not found" exception culprits as needed
• Download the rest of the JRE in parallel until the entire release exists on the user's system

  Also on the startup performance, Sun introduced “Java Warm Startup” this is when you already have the JRE installed on the PC and you just needed to start a Java Application. Well the JRE itself is over 40MB and reading it from the hard is technically slower than reading it form the memory. On the other loading the whole JRE in the memory is a waste for the OS resource and the end user who might not run a Java App for the entire session. So the solution is to take advantage of the disk cache to make sure that the memory pages on disk that Java must read at startup have already been loaded before it needs them. These can pre-load at some earlier time, such as Windows boot or login time. And these pages can be kept warm in the disk cache as machine and memory conditions allow. The OS can still swap them out when cache disk is needed for something else.

  Graphics performance: The default graphics pipeline on Windows has been re-written to take advantage of Direct3D for performing everything from simple rectangular fills and copies, which is what you get now by default, to translucency, gradients, arbitrary transformations, and other more advanced 2D operations. Swing applications simple and complex should benefit from much better runtime performance on Windows as a result.
Swing performs its rendering through Java 2D, and is therefore dependent upon the graphics rendering speed of Java 2D for fast Swing performance. And, unlike previous 3D pipelines which were not robust enough to be enabled by default, the new pipeline is rock-solid and used by default in This Consumer JRE.

   Next-Generation Java plug-in:Java Plug-In technology, which is included in the Java Runtime Environment, enables Java applets to run in web browsers on the desktop. The next-generation Java Plug-In, new in Consumer JRE, provides powerful new capabilities to applets in the web browser, while improving the overall reliability and functionality of applets in a backward-compatible manner.
The next-generation Java Plug-In offers a completely redesigned architecture. Instead of executing applets in the same operating system process as the web browser, the new plug-in runs one or more Java virtual machine instances ("JVMs") which connect back to the browser for full interoperability with the surrounding web page. This architectural change offers many advantages and enables several new features.

• Improved reliability. The JVM running the applet is isolated from the web browser at the operating system level. If something should go wrong while running the applet, or if an uncooperative applet refuses to shut down, the new Java Plug-In detects and handles the error condition gracefully; the web browser is unaffected.
• Built-in JNLP support. The new plug-in offers the capability to launch applets directly from JNLP files, unifying deployment of Java content both in the browser and out of the browser (via Java Web Start).
• Per-applet command-line arguments. JVM command-line arguments may be specified on a per-applet basis, providing fine-grained control over options such as the heap size and Java 2D hardware acceleration features. JNLP-launched applets simply incorporate the command-line arguments and/or system properties into the JNLP file. Old-style applets can embed these arguments in the HTML of the web page.
• Multiple Java Platform version support. Each individual applet instance may request a different Java Platform version on which to run. This feature is designed for enterprise customers which prefer to qualify their applets against either a particular Java Platform version or a particular Java Platform family. Both selection of a specific Java Platform version, or any in a particular family, are supported in the new plug-in.
• Improved Java/JavaScript communication. The bridge between the JavaScript engine in the web browser and the Java programming language has been completely reimplemented. The new implementation is backward-compatible and features improved reliability, performance and cross-browser portability, for both Java calling JavaScript as well as JavaScript calling Java.
• Improved user experience. The new Java Plug-In starts applets in the background, so the web browser always remains responsive. Applets appear on the web page as they become ready to run.
• Improved applet lifecycle management. Calls to the applet lifecycle methods init, start, stop, and destroy are more deterministic and cross-browser behavior has been improved. The applet class loader cache and the legacy applet lifecycle, required for backward compatibility, are fully supported and the behavior of both has been improved.
• Better large heap support. Historically, the maximum heap size that could be specified for applets via the Java Control Panel has been limited. This limitation is fixed in the new Java Plug-In; applets can now utilize as much heap space as command-line applications.
• Better Windows Vista support. Signed applets running in Protected Mode Internet Explorer on Microsoft's Windows Vista now have the same privileges as normal user applications, eliminating a portability barrier to this platform.

   New Look and Feel for Swing applications is called “Nimbus”. The Metal look & feel from previous versions was good in its day. And Ocean was a decent theme for Metal, especially given the backward-compatible constraint of maintaining the metrics used by the UI components. But these cross-platform look & feels are, frankly, dated, and developers need a more modern look for Swing. Of course there are other look & feels out there, some quite good. But in the meantime, Java Swing should provide a decent default for Swing developers in the core platform. Nimbus will be that new look & feel

  In summary, this is a small subset of the features that will be rolled out in the third quarter of this year, It has lots a promises for the Desktop. Wheather it will start dominating the desktop market like Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) is dominating the enterprise market is yet to be found out in the next couple years.

References:

Introducing Java SE 6 update 10 Beta

JavaOne Online Technical Sessions