Java SDK 1.5 'Tiger' Beta Finally Released

kingkola writes "Finally, after about two years of development, the Beta for Java SDK 1.5, aka Tiger, has been released. Features added in this edition include generics support, autoboxing of primitives, syntactic sugar for loops, enumerated types, variable arguments, sharing of memory between multiple VMs and a bunch of other bugfixes, enchancements, etc."

Comments

IPv6 for windows finally

[goodbye_kitty]

Yay, finally some proper java support for IPv6 in windows. Im not an IPv6 zeaolot or anything but its great to be able to write (careful) java.net code using generic InetAddresses and be pretty sure that it will work regardless of which version of IP your network is using.

Re:Why?

[Jim_Hawkins]

It bothers me when I read statements like this. Maybe Java is slower than C -- it really depends on what you are doing with each language. For example, heavy duty graphics are not going to fly in Java. However, the portability that a language like Java has, the ease that it can be implemented and the support that it is gaining/has gained in the corporate world makes it a solid competitor.

Every language out there has its own advantages and weakensses. C is fast. It is powerful. The gaming industry will probably always continue to use it unless something exceedingly better comes along.

Java is stable. It is secure. It is very easy to code. Web developers and businesses looking to get multiple systems working together quickly and efficiently will continue to use that.

I don't pretend to be an expert, but from what I've seen, Java is definitely a good thing to have around.

Re:Too little, too late

[MSBob]

C# innovated this, and already has this in the spec

Bollocks to that. C# copied generics from C++ (which likely copied it from somewhere else) and so did Java. And they both (C# and Java) got it wrong and missed the point.

Java didn't have this before? LOL

Lack of enumerated types in Java has been a real pain in the ass as was lack of typedef.

Memory sharing between VMs is not so easy to do when you have umpteen platforms to support. Much easier when you have one like in .net.

What .net lacks however is more substantial. There is no API in .net for doing O/R mapping such as JDO or CMP (belch). There is no API for distributed clustered components like EJB session beans. MSMQ is only usable in the Microsoft world. JMS queues can generally be used to integrate with legacy systems. Java has a bunch of great open source tools for it like Eclipse and all its plugins not to mention the Jakarta project. .net has bugger all for a developers' community, unless you consider Microsoft's astroturfing a vibrant community.

Finally .net lacks real credibility in the enterprise. The company that I work for (biggest consulting shop in North America) has a strategy of using .net for quick several week hack jobs but the real projects are always done with J2EE.

Re:"generics"

[PhrostyMcByte]

The type checking is much weaker thus introducing new potential holes for error to slip through.

In collections, generics make type checking much stronger. They allow you to find casting problems at compile time instead of run time by not boxing things to Object and back. This also gives a huge speed increase (about 300% in my tests).

In Response to C#?

[osewa77]

When I first learnt Java, I was so excited about the write once read anywhere functionality but many language features (or the lack thereof?) simply bugged me. Then I discovered C# and was happy to have found a usable Java - until I saw the probs Mono is facing porting .NET, particularly System.Windows.Forms, to Unix ... and the fact that they would always have toplay catch up, with no big company to support them (IBM, Sun and other Linux/Open source backers already have a huge stake in Java)

When I read about the proposed features for Java 1.5, I knew i could stick with Java for the long term. Good news!

Re:About time too

[Glock27]

How is java less lock-in than ,NET?

Because Java has freely available, industrial strength implementations on dozens of platforms. If you use it, you aren't locked in to deploying on any particular OS or hardware. (BTW, don't forget gcj in your list of "free" alternatives.)

.Nyet, on the other hand, leaves you with only Windows as a deployment option - it's not at all clear that Mono will be allowed to finish/distribute a complete cross-platform .Net implementation. Many important libraries aren't in the ECMA standards, such as Winforms.

I hope that helped clear things up...

Where the value is

[lonb]

While I see people here immediately start debating who gets credit for various aspects of the language and when things came out first -- in hopes of finding which originator is the more powerful geek (MS or SUN), I think the critical point is being missed.

Microsoft has it REALLY easy, and is cut way too much slack, when it comes to development environments and languages. They control the operating system and the hardware specifications and compliance. And, they have done so for well over a decade.

Java is truly platform independent, which is a huge challenge. That challenge was met with a well designed language that operated slowly. However, between 1.4 and 1.5 there are substantially speed increases in the VM which bring it up to par with the fastest languages available.

When you think about developing applications you need to consider many things other than pure technology:
- Who will be around in 5-10 years (both MS tech and Java tech will)
- Access to developers (while MS is the clear winner in the US, this is not so in other countries, where even gov'ts are against MS)
- Vendor independence and support (this is clearly in favor of Java)
..the list goes on.