On March 25th Sun Microsystems kicked off the 7th annual JavaOne developer Conference. Sun Microsystems will showcase Java and XML web services and technology in new markets.
Despite the client side problems, Java successfully found a home on the server, with the introduction of Java 2 Enterprise Edition during the Internet revolution. Unlike clients, the operating system and hardware on the servers remained heterogeneous and continued to proliferate with the introduction of Linux. Java came to the rescue by protecting the developer from operating system complexities. J2EE has rapidly displaced ad hoc server-side programming (e.g., PERL, PHP) due to its inherent advantages, including clustering/scalability, object-oriented structure, and code reuse. As a result, Java quickly proved it’s exceedingly low cost of ownership to the enterprise.
Java truly demonstrates its capabilities on thin wireless devices, as it’s faced with security, connectivity and user interface issues. The wireless environment has created many new challenges that don’t exist in the wired environment, most notably an ever increasing gap between the capabilities of devices and the bandwidth of the wireless networks.
J2ME is an ideal candidate to address these unique challenges and fill the gap, making the mobile devices the ideal new home for Java.
J2ME (Java 2 Micro Edition) is the API for the mobile devices. It has superior user interfaces with graphics. It has the ability to function offline, beyond the wireless coverage. The benefits of J2ME are compelling, but it has to bear a heavy load on its shoulders to replicate the success of its J2EE counterpart.
The very popular API can be downloaded from here (see below). On the same page you can find links to many other related topics and technologies. I suggest downloading the API and read some of the documentation.J2ME addresses a large consumer space most of them tiny gadgets like smart cards and pagers. The applications written with J2ME are scalable to work all other Java platforms.
You should also try Forte for Java IDE from Sun, available as a free download. It is an extremely powerful development environment, not only for Java but also for C and C++. Once you get used to the Forte, you realize that is the best development environment for Java development as well as c and C++.
There are many sponsors of the conference; the “Platinum” ones are Borland, Motorola, Macromedia, BEA and Oracle. Motorola showcases the first J2ME compliant handsets in North America. Another important gadget is the Accompli oo9 and 388 personal communicators. They also showcase an array of Java based solutions for mobile phones; these include e-commerce transactions on wireless devices, mobile commerce, wireless networking, home control, and games. Motorola has developer support programs, which provide developers with the tools and support they need to develop, certify, deploy, and commercialize their applications.
Richard Green, the Vice President and General Manager for the Java and XML platform oversee Sun’s participation in the Java Community Process (JCP).JCP enables interested millions of developers to collaborate on the evolution of the Java platform. There is a clear domination of the wireless market by the Java platform. Japan currently has more than 12 million Java-based phones. Nokia and Ericsson, the European phone manufacturers, plan to ship tens of millions of Java phones this year.
Some of the services are mobile messaging games and location based electronic commerce. In the US five mobile carriers have adopted alone the Java platform. Outside US, three major European carriers and one in Japan have also opted for the Sun’s platform.
Sun’s new initiative is also expected to receive endorsements from Sprint, Nextel and Motorola, Nokia and Ericcson just to name a few.
The sluggish US economy has pushed the US carriers to limit their technology spending, so US the wireless data services will be slow in coming compared with its European counterparts, but Sun’s chairman predicts that this is not going to be the case. There are more than 3 million developers and the java end-to-end represents the largest, fastest growing opportunity for developers.
Dragos Mincinoiu is a staff writer for Murdok.
