Java

Jakarta Going Forward

The agreement between the Eclipse Foundation and Oracle regarding rights to Java trademarks has been signed! This is truly an important milestone for Jakarta EE since we will now be able to move forward with Jakarta EE.

As outlined in https://eclipse-foundation.blog/jakarta-ee-java-trademarks, there are two major areas of impact on the Jakarta EE projects:

  • Java Trademarks
  • The javax.* Namespace

Java Trademarks

One part of the agreement is regarding the use of Java trademarks. The implications for Jakarta EE is that we have to rename the specifications and the specification projects. This work is ongoing and is tracked in our specification renaming board on GitHub. The EE4J PMC has published the following Naming Standard for Jakarta EE Specifications in order to comply with the trademark agreement.

The javax Namespace

The major topic of the agreement is around the use of the javax namespace. The agreement permits Jakarta EE specifications to use the javax namespace as is only. Changes to the API must be made in another namespace.

While the name changes can be considered cosmetic changes, the restrictions on the use of the javax.* namespace come with some technical challenges. For example, how are we going to preserve backwards compatibility for applications written using the javax.* namespace?

The Jakarta EE Specifications Committee has come up with the following guiding principle for Jakarta EE.next:

Maximize compatibility with Jakarta EE 8 for future versions without stifling innovation.

With the restrictions on the use of the javax.* namespace, it is necessary to transition the Jakarta EE specifications to a new namespace. The Jakarta EE Specification Committee has decided that the new namespace will be jakarta.*.

How and when this transition should happen is now the primary decision for the Jakarta EE community to make. There are several possible ways forward and the forum for these discussions is the Jakarta EE Platform mailing list.

Mailing List: jakartaee-platform-dev@eclipse.org

Please make sure that you subscribe to the mailing list and join in on the discussion. We hope that we will be able to reach some form of consensus within a month that can be presented to the Specification Committee for approval.

An Opportunity

While the restrictions on the use of Java trademarks and the javax.* namespace impose both practical as well as technical challenges, it is also an opportunity to perform some housekeeping.

By renaming the specifications, we can get a uniform, homogeneous naming structure for the specifications that makes more sense and is easier on the tongue than the existing. By having clear and concise names, we may even get rid of the need for abbreviations and acronyms.

The shift from javax.* to jakarta.* opens up for the possibility to differentiate the stable (or legacy) specifications that have played their role from the ones currently being developed.

Jakarta EE Developer Survey 2019

The Jakarta EE 2019 Developer Survey is available!

Take the survey today and help the community gain a better understanding of what’s in store for Java innovation. This is your chance to share your thoughts and experiences and help shape the future for Jakarta EE!

Jakarta EE 2019 Developer Survey
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JakartaEEMkt

Responses will be collected until March 25, 2019, at 11:59 PM Pacific Time

JCP Star Spec Lead 2018

Wow, what a year 2018 was for the MVC specification!

I know we are well into 2019 now and that I did sum up 2018 in early January. In that post, I mentioned that Christian and I received the JCP Outstanding Spec Lead Award at the JCP party for our work on JSR 371. At the same ceremony, Daniel Dias Dos Santos received the Outstanding Adopt-a-JSR Participant Award, also for his work on JSR 371.

And to top it all, Christian and I were announced as 2018 Star Spec Leads. Read more about the Star Spec Lead Program. 

A complete list of all Star Spec Leads can be found in the Star Spec Lead Hall of fame.

Have You Tried the MicroProfile Starter Yet?

The SPRING INITIALIZR at https://start.spring.io has been around for a while and is the best way to bootstrap a new Spring Boot application.

So far, there hasn’t been a similar way to bootstrap a new MicroProfile project even if the different vendors have provided starters for their implementations. But the wait is over! The MicroProfile Starter is currently in “Beta”, but works like a charm. Just navigate to https://start.microprofile.io and start generating.

https://start.microprofile.io

Based on which version of MicroProfile you select, you will get the available implementations that supports that particular version. You have the option of generating examples for the specifications included in the selected version. This is an excellent way to learn how the different technologies work.

Java Community Process Update

The Java™ Community Process has been updated through JSR 387: Streamline the JCP Program. The most significant change is to open up for Iterative JSRs, i.e. JSRs that intend to deliver multiple releases of a technology on a time-based cadence. The driving force for this change is the 6 month release cadence for Java™ SE.

The first JSR using the option for being iterable is JSR 388: Java™ SE 13 (I guess the JSR name will have to be changed to not include the version number…).

Another change made in this update where changes to reviews and ballots in order to make the process even lighter to accommodate shorter release cycles.

The™ Java Community Process

Amazon Corretto 8

UPDATE! I have updated the option of running Corretto in Docker to using the amazoncorretto Docker image available from Docker Hub.

Amazon Corretto is a production-ready distribution of OpenJDK with long-term support including performance- and security updates provided by Amazon.

Tweet announcing Amazon Coretto 8

Amazon provides installation packages and instructions for Linux, Windows, and macOS, as well as a Docker. The latest installation package is based on OpenJDK version 1.8.0_202:

$ java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_202"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Corretto-8.202.08.2 (build 1.8.0_202-b08)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Corretto-8.202.08.2 (build 25.202-b08, mixed mode)
$

If you don’t want to, or isn’t able to install Corretto on your workstation, t is pretty straightforward to try it out using Docker:

$docker run -it amazoncorretto

bash-4.2# java -version
openjdk version "1.8.0_202"
OpenJDK Runtime Environment Corretto-8.202.08.1 (build 1.8.0_202-b08)
OpenJDK 64-Bit Server VM Corretto-8.202.08.1 (build 25.202-b08, mixed mode)

bash-4.2#

Amazon Corretto is licensed under the same license as OpenJDK (GPLv2 with CPE) and there are no costs associated with using it. Amazon will provide quarterly security updates to Corretto 8 at least until June 2023.

But Java 8 is sooo old!

Relax, Amazon plans to make Corretto 11 available during the first half of 2019. Corretto 11 will be based on OpenJDK 11.

A First Look at Oracle Functions

I am super happy to have gotten the opportunity to test out Oracle Functions through the Cloud Native Limited Availability Program. When I last tried out running serverless functions in Oracle Cloud during the Oracle Groundbreaker APAC Tour last year, there were two options available. Either run my own Fn server in a virtual machine or set it up in a managed Kubernetes cluster. Now, a third option is available!

Oracle Functions is built on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI) and offer a managed environment for the Fn project. This means that you don’t have to manually manage an Fn cluster yourself. It also means that any function that runs on Oracle Functions will also run on any Fn server, something that offers you full flexibility.

The Fn project supports functions written in Go, Java, Node.js, Python or Ruby. The fn-duke function that I am using in this test is, of course, written in Java.

package eu.agilejava.fn;

public class HelloFunction {

    public String handleRequest(String input) {
        String configuredName = System.getenv("name");
        String name = (input == null || input.isEmpty()) ? configuredName  : input;
        return "Hello, " + name + "\n";
    }
}

Deployment is done by pointing to the Function Application you want your function to be part of.

fn deploy --app FunctionDuke

The function can be configured through the func.yaml file or using the fn CLI tool as shown here:

fn config function FunctionDuke fn-duke name World

The configured property will then be shown in the detail view in your Oracle Cloud Function Dashboard.

Invoking the function can be done by using the Fn CLI Tool

fn invoke FunctionDuke fn-duke

Or by sending a signed request using a convenience script called oci-curl provided by Oracle.

oci-curl "x3vzdahhy3a.us-phoenix-1.functions.oci.oraclecloud.com" get "/t/fn-duke-trigger" -d 'Duke'

Conclusion

Oracle has made a good choice when investing in the Fn project and use it as a basis for the Oracle Functions platform. It integrates extremely well with Fn and no extra tooling is needed to get started.

Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 is here!

The release of Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 is an important milestone for Jakarta EE!

First of all, it is a confirmation that the GlassFish source code contributed by Oracle is possible to build and assemble on Eclipse Infrastructure.

Second, by passing the Java EE 8 Compatibility tests, it verifies that the code contributed follows the Java EE 8 specifications, hence is Java EE 8 Compatible.

Download Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 and give it a try!

And while you’re at it, why don’t you try it out with Apache NetBeans as I have shown below.

Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 in Apache NetBeans 10

2018 Annual Summary

It’s this time of the year again. Time for the yearly summary of conferences, travels, community activities, open source projects, amazing people!

Like most recent years, I have been speaking at quite a few conferences around the World. The countries I visited as a speaker in 2018 were Sweden, Germany, USA, England, Denmark, France, Belgium, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Speaker Appearances 2018

One of the highlights this year was to be awarded the JCP Outstanding Spec Lead Award together with Christian Kaltepoth for our work with JSR 371.

Getting the JCP Award for Outstanding Spec Lead 2018

Another acknowledgement by the community was to be re-elected for an associate seat in the JCP Executive Committee.

Besides speaking at conferences, a great deal of my time in 2018 was dedicated Jakarta EE at the Eclipse Foundation where I act as the PMC Lead of EE4J a well as being a member of the Steering-, Specification-, and Marketing Committees in the Jakarta EE Working Group.

All in all 2018 was an eventful year and I expect no less of 2019!

While Waiting for Jakarta EE

It is more than a year since Oracle announced the transfer of Java™ EE to Eclipse Foundation at JavaOne 2017. Since then, a lot has happened:

  • Java™ EE 8 API and implementation projects have been set up under EE4J.
  • The Eclipse GlassFish 5.1 release is approaching.
  • A brand new Jakarta EE specification process is right around the corner.
  • Community shows involvement regarding the technical direction of Jakarta EE.
  • The Jakarta EE NoSQL specification project proposal has been created.

This is all very good, excellent actually! When you think about the size of it all, it is actually quite an achievement. We are talking about 7.7 million lines of code! More than 60.000 files and a total of 38 new projects that have been set up at the Eclipse Foundation.

But, as everyone knows, developers are impatient and eager to try out everything new, so there are still a couple of questions that I always get when talking about Jakarta EE:

  • When can I start developing Jakarta EE applications?
  • How does Eclipse MicroProfile fit in this picture?

The answer to the first question is: “not yet”. Until the Jakarta EE specification process is finalized, the technologies are still Java™ EE. 

The answer to the second question differs a little depending on who you ask, but usually is something in the lines of “I am pretty sure that some of the MicroProfile specs will be integrated into Jakarta EE when they have proven to be useful”.

So, what should an eager developer do in the meantime? Switch to Spring Boot…ouch…or…JavaScript…squeal…?

NO, here is what you should do: Use the power of Java™ EE 8 and combine it with Eclipse MicroProfile.

Many of the application server vendors have added MicroProfile features to their Java™ EE 8 compliant or certified application servers. Examples are Open Liberty, WildFly, Payara and Apache TomEE. See the respective vendor’s documentation for which versions they have included.

Java EE 8 with Eclipse MicroProfile 2.1

I have put together a simple application called Jakarta EE Duke to demonstrate how to do this. The application uses the @ConfigProperty annotation from MicroProfile Config to configure a message as well as the new @Email annotation from Bean Validation 2.0, which came with Java™ EE 8 to validate input.

While this example is extremely simple, it does indicate how you can combine the full power of Java™ EE 8 with the lightweight APIs of MicroProfile to implement cloud-native microservices using Java™ technology.

One last tip: Make sure to join the Jakarta EE Community Mailing list to always stay up-to-date on the latest development of Jakarta EE.