Java developers aren't without their tools. That is clear with the
outpouring of announcements to come from software development tool
vendors at this year's JavaOne Developers Conference, which continues
here through Friday with more spotlights on the popular coding
community.
In its sixth year, the Sun Microsystems Inc.-sponsored event is a
gathering for developers that eat and sleep this language for building
flashy Web sites and applications for the range of computing devices.
And with the explosion of industry support for standards that will
enable a world of Web services and business-to-business transactions,
companies are using Java technology to do much of the work, according
to Java proponents.
"Clearly Java is the core technology to put applications on the Web,"
said Richard Green, vice president and general manager of Java software
development at Sun, during a keynote address Monday.
Monday, Sun rolled out its first toolset for building Web services
applications with an all-in-one package based on the Java 2 Platform.
Similar to the host of other toolkit releases here, the Web Services
Pack relies on a collection of industry standards including support for
XML (extensible markup language), SOAP (simple object access protocol)
and directory services including UDDI (Universal Description and
Discovery Initiative).
The Web Service pack includes a new version of Tomcat, a reference
implementation for Java designed through the Jakarta project at the
Apache Software Foundation. Tomcat is an open source project and free
to developers. The pack also contains the JAX Pack, a collection of
Java APIs based on XML; and JavaServer Faces, a toolkit for developing
user interfaces for the server. It is available for download and will
be retooled on a quarterly basis, Green said.
As the major software vendors from Microsoft Corp. to IBM Corp. talk up
Web services, Sun's efforts to bill Java as a simple and reliable
method of building Internet-based applications that can be used in a
Web services context couldn't come too soon, analysts note. Sun
announced plans to roll in support for Web services into the next
release of its J2EE (Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition), offering the
same industry-standard support as its the Web Services pack. [See: "Web
services unites tech giants ... somewhat," June 1]
Sun also delivered a set of tools that will make it easier to build
Java applications for its Cobalt server appliance, a box that hosts and
delivers Web pages. The Sun Cobalt Developer Kit is available free to
developers to create and deploy server-side Java-based Web
applications. It includes Apache's Tomcat and Java Servlet technology.
Rounding out its toolkit releases, the Palo Alto-based server and
software maker unveiled the latest version of Forte for Java Enterprise
Edition. Forte 3.0 supports EJBs (Enterprise JavaBeans), SunONE (Sun
Open Net Environment) and includes features that allow members of a
software-development team to work closely together on the same project.
The release will also support development for the iPlanet Application
Server 6.0, which was released with new support for SOAP and Forte for
Java 3.0 Monday.
Oracle Corp. delivered free copies of its JDeveloper for building XML-
and Java-based applications for the Oracle9i Application Server,
offering developers an early look at the new platform. JDeveloper
includes support for building, debugging, and deploying any type of
J2EE and XML application.
Other technology heavyweights tossed some Java toolkits to developers
at JavaOne.
Hewlett-Packard Co. released a framework to allow Java developers to
integrate applications with its Netaction Internet Operating
Environment. IBM Corp. pushed its WebSphere application server as the
first software suite to support open standards for telecommunication
service providers based on Java. The announcement will allow developers
to build smart applications and services for the phones. And BEA
Systems Inc. offered new pieces to its WebLogic business-to-business
platform Tuesday, which is heavily based on Java technology. The latest
release includes a Java application server called WebLogic Server 6.1
and is built to integrate with J2EE architecture. A beta version of the
application server is available for download.
Meanwhile, software development tool maker Borland Software Corp.
released JBuilder 5, a Java-based development environment that allows
corporate users to develop and deploy Internet business applications on
a variety of operating systems, from IBM's WebSphere to BEA's WebLogic
6, and application servers such as Solaris and Linux. The toolkit
enables collaboration and has full support for XML.
Borland also said it has enabled SAP AG customers to use integrate and
use JBuilder for building larger enterprise applications. In addition,
the Scotts Valley, California tools company said it is teaming with
Nokia Corp. to offer Java tools for developers of mobile applications
based on its popular JBuilder development platform. The JBuilder 5
MobileSet will be closely tied to Nokia's Java-enabled mobile phones.
The toolkit can also work with other devices built with J2ME (Java 2
Platform, Micro Edition) and the company said it will work with other
mobile phone makers to offer more customized toolsets by year's end.
JavaOne, being held in San Francisco, ended on Friday. More information
can be found at http://java.sun.com/javaone.
