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Java 7 Roundup (June 7th)

07 Jun 2007

This is a weekly update on new Java 7 information. All current and previous information is maintained on my Java 7 page.

Modularity

The JSR 294 superpackage mailing list has been relatively quiet of late. The nested superpackage debate seems to have quieted for the moment (not sure there has been any consensus yet). Some members of the group have expressed some use cases for nested superpackages, most notably within the JRE itself but there is still a lingering question from other members (and me) as to whether they are required and whether their additional complexity is worth it. There has also been the openings of some discussion on the reflective API.

The JSR 277 observer mailing list traffic has been flowing freely with several concurrent active discussions on topics like module isolation, import by package vs import by class, discussions of how to integrate JSR 291 (OSGi) and JSR 277, exporting of resources, and more.

If you’re interested in some JSR 277 background, Stanley Ho and Mihal Cerniak gave a Google Tech Talk on JSR 277 which is available on Google Video.

More info: JSR 277, JSR 294

Libraries

On the JSR 310 Date and Time API mailing list, most of the discussion in the last week has been around whether a new class for representing time zones needs to be created (consensus seems to be that it does), what it would be called, and what exactly its capabilities would be. Personally, I have in the past found that it was crucial to support both GMT offset timezones (like GMT-06:00) and also the concept of a “no timezone” timestamp when dealing with different databases. So, I would vote in support of those capabilities as being important. I also think that a new time zone class should be created.

Stephen Colebourne has also started to lay out a series of posts outlining the design principles for the API as a starting point:

These are starting points for discussion (and presumably incomplete) but probably interesting to follow purely from an API design point of view.

More info: JSR 203, JSR 310, JSR 107

Swing

John O’Conner has started to work with JSR 296 and seems to like both the capabilities and non-intrusiveness of the Swing Application Framework.

More info: JSR 296

JMX

Jean-Fracois Denise posted some instructions on deploying the web services connector for JMX if you want to try with it.

More info: JSR 255, JSR 262

Language Proposals

Pretty quiet on the Java 7 language front this week. One post from David Rupp indicated that he’d rather leave the language alone and do without closures. Certainly not a new or unique sentiment in the blogosphere, but it’s a well-stated version of the argument.

More info: Closures, miscellaneous language ideas

Musical suggestion of the week

And finally, I have a new weekly feature (found here at the end for easy ignorability if you don’t care). My musical suggestion of the week is the new CD “Boxer” by the band The National. For whatever reason, this CD hit me just right this week and I’ve been listening to it a lot when I’m out taking walks at night. It’s relatively mellow but I love the instrumentation, lyrics, etc. Check out some links below to listen or buy.

The Hype Machine iTunes Amazon insound emusic