Hashtag Jakarta EE #297

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-seven of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

This week I was in Norway for JavaZone 2025 where I presented the talk titled The Past, the Present, and the Future of Enterprise Java. I have done this talk a couple of times, and even if the overall story is the same, the specifics change every time I do it. Next week, at Community Over Code in Minneapolis, I will do it with an angle toward The Apache Software Foundation.

I was not able to join the Jakarta EE Platform call since I was busy at the conference, but from the meeting minutes, I can see that the Milestone 1 of Jakarta EE 12 is shaping up with the details for what the component specifications are expected to do. There is a small challenge as a consequence of the migration from OSSRH to the Maven Central Portal as we haven’t really figured out a good replacement for staging of the specification artifacts. I expect this will be solved in near future.

JavaZone 2025

It’s been three years since last time I spoke at JavaZone, so it was very good to be back this year. The usual venue in downtown Oslo is under renovation, so the entire conference had relocated to Lillestrøm. It is just a 10 minute train ride north of Oslo, so that location is very convenient as well.

The upside of the new venue is that it has more capacity and feels a little more spacious. The rooms for the talks are bigger and more convenient without the steep lectern setup that the old venue had. Overall, I really liked the new location, and wouldn’t mind at all if it became the permanent solution.

This year’s conference had a Roman theme and this really shone through in the exhibition hall. All the exhibitors used some elements aligned with the theme in their booths and the food stalls where accordingly named. Talking about the food. JavaZone is well-known for their food concept. They serve it in the exhibition hall all day long. This means that there are no specific lunch hours with the unavoidable lunch queues. Attendees simply go and grab something to eat whenever they have a break from the talks or feel like a meal or snack.

My talk “The Past, Present, and Future of Enterprise Java” was scheduled for the morning on Thursday. Despite that this was the first slot on the day after the conference party on Wednesday evening quite a few showed up to see this walk through the history of Enterprise Java all the way up to what is in the pipeline for the next versions of Jakarta EE.

The factory that produce the JavaZone Viking Duke has burned down, so there were only a few left. I was lucky enough to get one before they ran out of them. Before the conference on Wednesday morning, I had a short run around the castle and parliament building in Oslo.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #296

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-six of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

The Jakarta EE Platform calls started up again this week after a three week summer break. I see that we have been a bit slow in publishing the minutes. I will try to get that done as soon as possible. The meeting this week was more about catching up after summer while the real “business” starts the upcoming week. The plan is to firm up the contents of the first milestone of Jakarta EE 12.

The Platform project will also start the process of deciding which new, if any, specifications to add to the Platform. The most plausible candidates for addition in Jakarta EE 12 are the Jakarta Query and Jakarta NoSQL specifications with Jakarta MVC lurking in the background.

The CFP for JakartaOne Livestream 2025 is open until September 15. But don’t wait. Submit your talk today!

The upcoming week, I am going to Norway to speak at JavaZone. This will be my fourth time speaking at this conference. The difference this time is that it is not located at its usual spot in Oslo. Since the venue is under renovation, it will be arranged at NOVA Spektrum in Lillestrøm.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #295

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-five of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

This week I toured South America on the LAOUC Community Tour 2025. I visited Buenos Aires and São Paulo. Even if it is not my usual Java crows, It is great to visit the communities on these tours.

The weekly Jakarta EE Platform calls will resume on Tuesday after a three-week break over summer. The main focus going forward now will be to define the first milestones of Jakarta EE 12. The first one is planned for September and will mostly contain practical preparations for the specification projects. We will also start the process of deciding which, if any, specifications to add to the Platform, and/or Profile.

This was the last of the somewhat thinner summer posts. I promise that from next week and onward, I will be able to provide more information.

LAOUC Community Tour 2025 – Brazil

My second and last stop on the LAOUC Community Tour 2025 was São Paulo. This event, GUOB Tech Day 2025 was organised by the Brazilian Oracle User Group (GUOB) and about 300 attendees showed up.

I presented a talk titled The Past, Present, and Future of Enterprise Java as one of the last slots of the day for a small but very enthusiastic group. In this talk, I go back to the early days of J2EE and take us through the history up until modern day Jakarta EE. The talk also include demos for Jakarta Data and the virtual threads support in Jakarta EE 11.

The visit to São Paulo was a fairly short one this time, but I got to experience the Brazilian hospitality and great food. Tomorrow, I may even squeeze in a run in the park before my flight home.

LAOUC Community Tour 2025 – Argentina

This is the second time I am participating in the LAOUC Community Tour. My first stop was Buenos Aires and the event organized by the Argentinian Oracle User Group. Due to the heavy rain in Buenos Aires this Wednesday, the number of attendees were a quite a bit lower than the 180 registered.

In my talk titled Jakarta EE Core Profile and Helidon – Sped, Simplicity, and AI Integration, I gave an overview of the history of enterprise java, presented what’s new in Jakarta EE 11, and some indications for what is in the pipeline for Jakarta EE 12. The demo part of the presentation was about Helidon, which is a compatible implementation of Jakarta EE 10 Core Profile. I demoed how easy it is to get started with, how fast it is, and the brand new support for AI integration that was added in the latest version.

The Oracle User Groups is not my regular crowd, and it is nice to meet new faces. The speakers met for an informal gathering at a local pizzeria where we had their specialty called Fugazza. I would not dare to call it pizza in case any Italians are listening. It is more like cheese fondue with onions on a thin bread.

The official speaker dinner after the event was at a tradition Argentinian parilla where we tasted a lot of different kinds of meat prepared in the Argentinian way. And, of course, every meal started with empanadas. These come in different shapes and are ubiquitous in Argentina.

After all this food, I am glad I managed a short run in a nearby park the day after the conference.

JCrete 2025

I tried to figure out how many editions of JCrete I have attended. Let’s just say that it’s been quite a few, and I enjoy is just as much every time I return.

The community at JCrete is just incredible, the food is awesome. The only thing to wish for is that time wouldn’t go so fast. From the informal gathering on Sunday night, the four days just blow past you in an incredible flow of impressions and good moments. The week is over before you know it. I usually take a couple of days off and stay at Crete a couple of days after the conference. This year, I stayed a full week at the wonderful beaches of the island.

If you ever have the opportunity to join a Java unconference, you should definitely take the opportunity. It is the best way to have technical conversations to industry experts and community leaders in an informal setting. Everyone and noone is a speaker at an unconference.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #294

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-four of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

This is another short update due to the vacation period. After JCrete, I had a week of vacation where I was more or less totally off the grid. That also means that I haven’t written my JCrete 2025 recap yet. I will get it done in the beginning of next week.

Talking about next week, I am going to South America to participate in the LAOUC Community Tour 2025. I will speak at the events in Buenos Aires on Wednesday and São Paulo on Saturday.

I will be back next week with more updates regarding Jakarta EE and the progress of Jakarta EE 12. The Jakarta EE Platform calls will resume on August 26, 2025.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #293

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-three of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

Not much to update this time since I was attending JCrete last week and is on vacation this week. The Jakarta EE Platform project is having a summer break from the weekly Platform Calls. The calls will resume on August 26. I will follow up with a post from JCrete as soon as I am back from vacation.

I hope you all are able to take some time off to recharge!

Hashtag Jakarta EE #292

Welcome to issue number two hundred and ninety-two of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

We are winding down for summer break. The platform project has decided to skip the next three weekly calls. The next call will be on August 26. The plan for Jakarta EE 12 is shaping up, and we will have the first milestone in September.

I will be going to JCrete today. This unconference has become a yearly tradition for me. It is so great to meet friends in the Java community in such a beautiful and relaxed setting. After that, I will be on vacation for a week.

The Jakarta EE Starter now has a new look-and-feel. The functionality is the same, but it has a more intuitive layout and integrates more seamlessly with the rest of the Jakarta EE web pages.

t will shortly be updated to also be able to generate the Jakarta EE 11 Platform as well as the Web Profile. Currently, you can choose Core Profile and then change the dependency manually in the generated pom.xml to Jakarta EE 11 Platform or Jakarta EE 11 Web Profile.