Twenty Ten Java Stories

I was trying to decide what the top stories of 2010 are in the world of Java development. What was top of mind for folks in and around the Java software community? I decided not to simply scour the web for popular articles, blog posts or forum rants – I asked what I tend to think of as my best colleagues from different parts of the business for their views on the year that was in Java. These colleagues included IBMers from software development, marketing, product management, sales, UX design, enterprise architecture, and even my fellow technical evangelists. I asked each person for their top two takes on Java topics and news worthy moments from twenty ten. I wanted to see what the common threads were as well as the important items that may have been eclipsed by the "big news" buzz. I have mixed up the 15+ responses and presented them as a word cloud. Are the results surprising? What are your top two take aways from 2010? What will the landscape become in 2011 and beyond?

The most notable news was about the Sun acquisition, JCP membership and participation, new JDK partnerships, availability of JEE6 + OSGi technology and the rise of mobile platforms such as Android. Note, the opinions and observations expressed here are those of the survey participants and myself and not of our employers.

Credit to Wordle.net for the fantastic word cloud generator.

Apache Geronimo Several New Updates and Releases

Recent weeks have seen several updates to the Apache Geronimo open source application server project. On November 30th, Geronimo 2.1.7 was released with improvements related to security and authentication. In addition, the Geronimo Samples were updated with a couple of new applications and the Daytrader performance benchmarking tool was updated to 2.1.7 as well. On December 11, Geronimo 2.2.1 was released with stateless session bean failover support and JMX over SSL improvements. Each of these releases include upgrades for several open source components like Tomcat and OpenEJB. The Geronimo Eclipse Plug-in 2.1.7 was released in the same week with support for Eclipse 3.6.x Helios and Geronimo server 2.1.7. These releases give nice improvements, new features and fixes for Java developers. You can find specific details about each release on the respective download pages and full release notes.

WebSphere System Test Reports available

The WebSphere Application Server system test team developerWorks wiki features several reports summarizing testing done with WebSphere Application Server Feature Packs. Reports based on WebSphere Application Server V7 Feature Pack for OSGi Applications and Java Persistence API 2.0 include:

• Using alternate JPA providers in WebSphere Application Server to access database transactions
• Migrating a classic Hibernate application to use the WebSphere JPA 2.0 Feature Pack
• Installing the IBM WebSphere Application Server Feature Pack for OSGi Applications and JPA 2.0 in a v7.0.0.9 Network Deployment cell that included the Communications Enabled Applications (CEA), XML, and Service Component Architecture (SCA) Feature Packs
• Testing the Feature Pack for OSGi Applications and Java Persistence API 2.0 in the same WebSphere Application Server installation using multiple OSGi applications and JEE applications

You can find this set of system test reports as well as reports for other WebSphere Application Server Feature Packs on the wiki. Thanks to this great set of resources shared by WebSphere system test specialist Jim Habinek!

Eclipse DemoCamp video – OSGi Tooling for Eclipse

Ted Kirby, IBM Software developer, demos OSGi tooling for Eclipse at the RTP Eclipse DemoCamp on November 10th in Raleigh NC. The Rational Development Tools for OSGi along with the Apache Geronimo Eclipse Plugin and Apache Aries runtime were used to show the benefits of modular enterprise application construction. Ted created a handy wiki resource page for reference. This video is a two minute slice of the 5 minute demonstration. This is one of four videos from the annual event. Read more about Eclipse DemoCamp 2010.

Eclipse DemoCamp video – Eclipse Marketplace

Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation, demos the Eclipse Marketplace at the RTP Eclipse DemoCamp on November 10th in Raleigh NC. This video is a 90 second sample of his 5 minute talk. This is one of four videos from the annual event. Read more about Eclipse DemoCamp 2010.

Eclipse DemoCamp video – Dali Tools for JAXB and JPA

Neil Hauge demos Eclipse Dali tooling and EclipseLink Java persistence project at the RTP Eclipse DemoCamp on November 10th in Raleigh NC. This is one of four videos from the annual event. Read more about Eclipse DemoCamp 2010.

Eclipse DemoCamp video for IBM Healthcare Modeling Tools

Lee Surprenant demos Model-driven Health Tools project from IBM and the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.

This video is a 1.5 minute clip of the 5 minute demo from the 2010 RTP Eclipse DemoCamp on November 10th in Raleigh NC. This is one of four videos from the annual event. Download the slides for more information. Read more about IBM and open standards for Healthcare. Read more about Eclipse DemoCamp 2010.

November RTP WebSphere User Group Links

IBM RTP Briefing Center – Image CC licensed by Ryan Boyles

Here are some handy links from the November Triangle WebSphere User Group meeting. The meeting and lab went quite well, with around 30 people in attendance at the IBM Executive Briefing Center at the IBM main site in Research Triangle Park, NC on November 30th.

• RTP WUG meeting announcements presentation
• Charles Le Vay's blog recap
• Configure WebSphere application to use XC10 appliance to store http session objects video demo on YouTube
• HTTP session fail-over between two Datacenters video demo on YouTube
• IBM WebSphere Datapower XC10 appliance Top Ten FAQ article
• Meeting preview by Ryan Boyles
• OSGi Lab introduction slides by Ryan Boyles
• OSGi apps to JEE apps comparison table
• OSGi primer presentation by Holly Cummins (PDF)
• Apache Aries project for OSGi
• WebSphere Application Server Feature Pack for OSGi and JPA 2.0
• Redbook for WAS Feature Pack for OSGi and JPA 2.0
• Triangle WebSphere User Group on GWC
• OSGi bookmarks on the WebSphere Emerge community
• Ian Robinson's OSGi blog