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Java on the Client: Alive and Kicking


Standard Edition 1.3 tuned for performance, deployment options

By David Rubinstein
June 1, 2000 — 
Java 2 Standard Edition is alive and kicking on the client side, and has been ratcheted up for increased performance and improved deployment-based options for people running typical desktop applications, according to Blake Connell, Sun Microsystems Inc.'s product line manager for J2SE.

"With this release, we're trying to come out strong," Connell said, as the platform approaches its fifth year. "We think we're feature-complete for the most part, and we wanted to emphasize performance."

To feed the need for speed, Connell said, Sun's Java HotSpot virtual machine has been optimized to provide quicker start-up time for applets and reduced memory requirements for Java applications and applets. Also, Connell said, the libraries throughout the platform have been pared down, as have the Java foundation classes, including GUI and Swing components.

Connell cited in-house benchmarks that showed 40 percent better start-up times and 25 percent reduction in memory footprints with Swing-based applications and applets.

For deployment, J2SE has been outfitted with Java Plug-in as part of the run-time environment, which serves as a bridge between a browser and the JVM, Connell explained. This provides the ability to store, or cache, applets locally, he said. Some versioning functionality has been included to alert users to application updates, he added.

The Java Plug-in also allows for the extension of J2SE for segment-specific areas, Connell explained, by deploying Java optional packages.

Other improvements in J2SE for enterprise interoperability include client-side ability to take advantage of LDAP directories, and CORBA support enhancements for IIOP that allow access to back-end systems, Connell said.

The J2SE also features support for common X509 digital certificates and RSA-compliant digital signatures, and provides multiple monitor support for developers.

J2SE is the base platform for Sun's Java deployment, said Connell. By comparison, Micro Edition is a subset intended for use in small devices; Enterprise Edition is a superset of J2SE that has been widely adopted for application servers, Connell said. The J2SE run-time environment, and the SDK version 1.3, are available for free download athttp://java.sun.com/j2se/1.3.

IBM FIRST TO EMBRACE JAVA 1.3 TECHNOLOGY

IBM Corp. this month will make available four Java Virtual Machines that support J2SE 1.3, the company announced. JVMs for AIX, Linux, OS/390 and Windows are the first of nine that IBM plans to release. JVMs for OS/400 and OS/2 will be ready shortly after the first release, the company said, followed by three more for Intel's Itanium processor later this year.

The Itanium releases will be the first Java 2 JVMs for that processor running Windows 2000, Linux and AIX/Monterey, IBM's future delivery of AIX on the Intel IA-64 systems.

"Being the first to offer a broad line of production-level 1.3 JVMs to the market underscores IBM's commitment to delivering industry-leading, fully compliant Java technology," said Rod Smith, vice president of Java software at IBM.

Preview JVMs for AIX, Linux and OS/390 can be downloaded fromwww.alphaWorks.ibm.com.

IBM is also working on enhancements to its JVM technologies to address the specific high-performance requirements of short-lived, fast, transactional applications. This will allow Java to be used effectively in place of traditional languages in high-transactional environments. The company plans to add these new technologies first to OS/390 and then expand the new capability to the Windows, AIX/Monterey and Linux platforms.


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