It is turning into a great month for Java. So far this month there have been a couple of big milestones that have occurred.
A new release of Java Platform, Standard Edition (Java SE) 6 beta become available last week. Previously known as “Mustang”, this is the first feature complete version of the next major release of the Java Standard Edition. Although the final release is not expected until this fall, you can download the beta now at http://java.sun.com/javase/6/download.jsp
A preview of the Java Enterprise Edition 5 (Java EE 5) SDK has also been released. This is an SDK that lets you build, test, and deploy Java applications for the enterprise. A few of the key features that Sun mentions are:
- The use of XML descriptors is now optional and boilerplate requirements have been eliminated.
- Annotations are available for a number of key tasks including the definition of web services, developing EJB software, mapping to XML or databases, mapping to operations, specifying external dependencies, and more.
- More defaults have been added.
- The number of supported Web services standards has been increased.
- Simplification has been applied to Web services, EJB, default values, and more.
- EJB now supports the Java Persistence API as do all Java platform applications.
- JSF has been added.
You can find out more specific details about the Java EE 5 SDK at http://java.sun.com/developer/technicalArticles/J2EE/intro_ee5/
Of course, the NetBeans IDE also released at the end of last month. The new release of NetBeans included the Matisse GUI Builder, servers, web frameworks, web services, code completion, refactoring, version control, and much more. You can find out more about the NetBeans release at http://www.netbeans.org/community/releases/50/
# # #