2. //table of contents /
COMMUNITY
COMMUNITY 46
02 Mobile and Embedded
From the Editor Get Started with Java
JAVA IN ACTION
04 SE for Embedded
Java Nation Devices on Raspberry Pi
News from JavaOne, plus Bill Courington and Gary
people, events, and books Collins walk you through
getting Linux and Java SE for
Embedded Devices to run on
JAVA TECH the Raspberry Pi in less than
30 an hour.
New to Java
JAVA TECH
Can You Teach Testing 55
to Beginners? Polyglot Programmer
Michael Kölling wraps up his Building Actor-Based
series on BlueJ with a look at Systems Using the Akka
its interactive-testing support. Framework
Ted Neward shows you how
34 to use Akka’s open source
Java Architect actor model implementation
ABOUT US
Exploring Lambda to build distributed systems.
Expressions for the
Java Language and 60
the JVM Fix This
Ben Evans, Martijn Verburg, Take our JDBC code
and Trisha Gee help you get challenge.
ready for lambda expressions
in Java SE 8.
42 14 20 25 38
Mobile and Embedded JCP Executive Java in Action Java in Action Rich Client
GROWING
Wirelessly Recover Your Series AN ENGINE JAVAFX IN
Device’s Address Book Q&A WITH MIKE FOR BIG DATA SPRING
ON OPEN
Vikram Goyal explains how MILINKOVICH Hadoop uses Java Stephen Chin
to add a recovery model to The Eclipse for large-scale shows you why
the backup capability of your Foundation’s analytics. to use the Spring
device’s address book. executive director framework on
AgroSense provides an all-Java open
blog
assesses the state the client.
of Java and the JCP. source platform for sustainable
farming and precision agriculture.
COVER ART BY I-HUA CHEN, NICHOLAS PAVKOVIC
01
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

3. //from the editor /
COMMUNITY
T
JAVA IN ACTION
FIND YOUR
JUG HERE
JAVA TECH
hey say that it takes a village to raise a child. As a parent, I wholeheartedly agree. The teachers,
coaches, friends, and family who regularly interact with my son are influencing the person he is becoming— One of the most elevating things
and giving him access to a much greater range of specialties and world views than his father and I could in the world is to build up a
community where you can hang
provide on our own. Open source software is not so different. It, too, is raised by a global village of contribu-
out with your geek friends, educate
tors, each of whom offers his or her own special breed of knowledge. This collaborative model keeps the each other, create values, and
software evolving and improving and encourages innovation. give experience to you members.
ABOUT US
In this issue, we explore how Java provides a platform for two organizations to build their own open source Csaba Toth
Nashville, TN Java Users' Group (NJUG)
projects. 2012 Duke’s Choice Award winner the AgroSense Project built an open source farm management
system on Java and the NetBeans Platform that gives farmers the information they need to manage their LEARN MORE
crops. Another 2012 Duke’s Choice Award winner, Hadoop, is an open source software platform written in Java
that enables businesses to unlock potential value from big data. Because Hadoop is open source, decisions
about it are made by consensus. “You can’t just do things unilaterally,” Hadoop creator Doug Cutting tells us.
We also get an open source perspective from Eclipse Foundation Executive
Director Mike Milinkovich in our Java Community Process Executive Committee //send us your feedback /
member interview. Plus: Simon Phipps of the Open Source Initiative tells us what’s We’ll review all
suggestions for future
driving open source today in a video interview with Tori Wieldt, and Ted Neward
improvements.
shows us how to use Akka, an open source actor model implementation. Depending on volume,
It’s been a great year at Java Magazine. Looking ahead to 2013, we are open to some messages may
your feedback so that we, too, can keep growing and innovating. not get a direct reply. blog
Caroline Kvitka, Editor in Chief BIO
PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB ADLER
02
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

4. Answers. Fast.
Subscribe and gain instant cutting-edge
development insight from the world’s most
trusted tech publishers — all in one
on-demand digital library.
• Get unlimited access to 23,000+ online books
and training videos from100+ publishers
• Search full text to efficiently get the answers
you need
• Make notes and organize content into folders
you control
• Elevate your career with thousands of top
business and professional development titles
ANYTIME, ANYWHERE:
Access on your desktop, notebook, tablet or mobile device.
Start a free unlimited-access trial today safaribooksonline.com/javamag

5. //java nation /
COMMUNITY
JavaOne 2012 /
JAVA IN ACTION
MAKE THE
FUTURE Mark Reinhold
JAVA TECH
JAVA
The theme of JavaOne 2012, held September
ABOUT US
30–October 4, was “Make the Future Java.”
Throughout the week, attendees explored Java’s
continued role as the most popular, complete,
productive, secure, and innovative development
Brian Goetz Georges Saab Nandini Ramani
platform as well as its open, transparent, col-
laborative, and community-driven evolution. At
Sunday’s Strategy keynote, Oracle’s Hasan Rizvi Under stewardship, he noted Oracle’s continued announced that Oracle plans to contribute the
detailed the three factors critical to Java’s suc- outreach—with four regional JavaOne confer- implementation to OpenJDK.
cess: technology innovation, community par- ences last year and the launch of Java Magazine. Oracle’s Brian Goetz explored language and
ticipation, and Oracle’s leadership/stewardship. Here are highlights from Sunday’s Strategy and library features planned for Java SE 8, including
Under technology, he noted Macintosh OS X Technical keynotes: lambda expressions and better parallel librar-
and Linux ARM support on Java SE, open sourc- Java 8/Java 9 ies. These feature changes both simplify code
ing of JavaFX by the end of 2012, the release of Oracle’s Georges Saab discussed the upcoming and free up libraries to more effectively use
Oracle Java Embedded Suite 7.0, and multiple JDK 8 release—including Project Lambda and parallelism.
Oracle’s Mark Reinhold urged developers to blog
releases on the Java EE side. Under community, Project Nashorn (a modern implementation of
he said that the Java Community Process (JCP) JavaScript running on the Java Virtual Machine). get involved in the Java 8 development process—
continues, with new JSR activity and Java user He noted that Nashorn functionality has already getting the weekly builds, trying out their current
group participation up 25 percent since last year. been used internally in NetBeans 7.3, and code, and trying out the new features.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARTMANN STUDIOS 04
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

6. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
Left: Nike’s Nicole Otto presented
Oracle’s Cameron Purdy with a
JavaOne Content on Video
NikeFuel accelerometer wrist band JavaOne content is available on video in three
so that he can track his activity. categories: keynote highlights; full keynotes;
JAVA IN ACTION
and all sessions, birds-of-a-feather (BOF)
sessions, and tutorials.
Right: Dr. Robert Ballard,
oceanographer and National
Geographic explorer in residence,
presented an overview of the
cutting-edge technology used in
JAVA TECH
deep-sea explorations.
Saab also explored Java SE 9 and beyond— in Small Things” for details of Oracle’s product
Jigsaw modularity; Project Penrose for interop- announcements.) Ramani encouraged devel-
Welcome to JavaOne 2012
erability with OSGi; improved multitenancy opers to download the latest releases of Oracle
for Java in the cloud; and Project Sumatra, an Java SE Embedded and try them out.
OpenJDK project targeted at bringing Java to Java EE 7/Java EE 8
ABOUT US
heterogeneous platforms. Oracle’s Cameron Purdy summarized the
JavaFX latest developments in the enterprise space:
Oracle’s Nandini Ramani announced that a greater developer productivity in Java EE 6 and
developer preview of JavaFX on Linux ARM as portability between platforms, vendors, and
well as JavaFX Scene Builder on Linux are avail- even cloud to cloud. The earliest version of the
able for download. She noted other JavaFX 2 Java EE 7 Software Development Kit (SDK) is
milestones including releases on Microsoft now available for download—in GlassFish 4—
Strategy keynote highlights
Windows, Macintosh OS X, and Linux; the with WebSocket support, better JSON support,
JavaFX Scene Builder tool; the JavaFX WebView and more. The final release is scheduled for
component in NetBeans 7.3; and an OpenJFX April 2013.
project in OpenJDK. In JDK 8, JavaFX will offer Looking forward to Java EE 8, Oracle’s Arun
3-D and third-party component integration, Gupta explored how the platform will provide
she said. multitenancy for applications, modularity
Embedded based on Jigsaw, and cloud architecture. He
blog
Ramani discussed the latest on Java in the also talked about Project Avatar, for designing
embedded space, declaring this to be “the next an end-to-end framework for building HTML5
IT revolution,” with Java as the ideal technology applications, and Project Easel, an advanced
tooling capability in NetBeans for HTML5. Technical keynote highlights
for the ecosystem. (See “A Huge Opportunity
05
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

7. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
Project Sumatra Update
2012 DUKE’S CHOICE AWARDEES RECOGNIZED Project Sumatra is a new OpenJDK project
JAVA IN ACTION
that will enable Java applications to take
advantage of graphical processing units
(GPUs) to improve application perfor-
mance. The Sumatra effort is led by Oracle’s
John Coomes, who has worked on the Java
HotSpot VM for almost a decade. Initial
development will focus on code generation,
garbage collection, and runtime develop-
JAVA TECH
ment for offloading processing to GPUs.
Subsequently, Java 8 lambda expressions
will be utilized to further increase applica-
tion parallelism.
At the JavaOne Community keynote,
Gary Frost of AMD (which has joined Project
Sumatra) talked about the Sumatra effort
ABOUT US
Left: The 2012 Duke’s The winners of the 2012 Duke’s Choice Awards were recognized at a and demonstrated GPU speedups attained
Choice Award. ceremony on the opening day of JavaOne. “This year’s Duke’s Choice using the related Aparapi (A Parallel API)
Right: Oracle’s Orla open source project. Aparapi executes data-
Nichorcora, senior Awards winners are spearheading a truly diverse and creative set of
director business Java-based projects, and their efforts are invaluable to the Java com- parallel code on GPUs by converting Java
development, presents munity,” says Oracle’s Peter Utzschneider. bytecode to OpenCL, which runs on a wide
a 2012 Duke’s Choice One of the winners, The United Nations High Commissioner for variety of GPUs. In applications that plot-
Award to the creators Refugees (UNHCR), was also recognized at Oracle Day in Kenya on ted Mandelbrot fractals, played the Game of
of UNHCR’s Level October 12 and presented with its Duke’s Choice Award. To help facili- Life, and solved N-body gravitational physics
One registration tool, tate its mission of humanitarian relief, UNHCR developed a light-client equations for 10,000 celestial bodies, Frost’s
Doudoux Stanyslas demonstrations showed speedups of up to
Java application on the NetBeans platform that collects information
Matayo (left) and
Abdouraouf Gnon- on the number of refugees and their water, food, housing, health, and 10 times using Aparapi compared with tradi-
Konde. other needs in the field and combines that with geocoding information tional Java threads processing.
from various sources. As with all OpenJDK projects, the com-
“UNHCR, along with all of this year’s recipients, demonstrates the munity is invited to participate in Project
remarkable work being done by Java community members across the Sumatra. While the project is still just getting blog
world,” says Utzschneider. started, ultimately developers will be needed
to test releases, suggest improvements, fix
bugs, and more.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ORANGE PHOTOGRAPHY,
HAIG ANYONYI
06
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

8. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
BY AND FOR THE
COMMUNITY
JAVA IN ACTION
tion. He invited panelists better open standards. “Come join us, and make
from Cloudera, Eclipse, your ecosystem better!” urged Verburg.
Eucalyptus, Perrone Next, Paul Perrone of Perrone Robotics
Robotics, and Twitter returned to profile the latest in his company’s
JAVA TECH
onstage to further dis- robotics work around Java—including the
cuss the idea of inno- AARDBOTS family of smaller robotic vehicles,
vation. Panelist Mike running the Perrone MAX platform on top of the
Milinkovich, executive Java Virtual Machine (JVM). Perrone took his
director of the Eclipse “Rumbles” four-wheeled robot out for a spin—a
Foundation, noted, roaming, ARM-based security-bot vehicle, com-
“The more open you plete with ultrasonic and “cliff” sensors.
ABOUT US
make your innovation Then, a mysterious voice from offstage pro-
process, the more ideas nounced, “I’ve got some toys”—proving to be
are challenged, and the surprise guest James Gosling, there to explore his
more developers are cutting-edge work with Liquid Robotics. Gosling
focused on justifying demonstrated real-time satellite tracking of
their choices all the way several Wave Gliders currently at sea, noting that
Clockwise from top: James Gosling describes the Wave Glider; Paul Perrone
plays with robots; Sharat Chander proudly displays his JavaOne badge. through the process.” Java is actually particularly good at artificial intel-
Continuing the topic ligence applications—due to the language hav-
of innovation, Oracle’s ing garbage collection, which facilitates complex
Thursday’s Community keynote reinforced the Georges Saab talked with Martijn Verburg of the data structures.
idea that JavaOne is by and for the community. London Java Community (LJC) about the Adopt- Finally, Chander again took the stage, where
Sharat Chander, JavaOne community chairper- a-JSR program. Other program participants also he passed the JavaOne Community Chairperson
son, noted that 60 percent of the material at the took the stage, and the group explored the goals baton to Oracle Java Technology Evangelist
2012 JavaOne conference was presented by Java and tasks inherent in the Adopt-a-JSR program Stephen Chin. Wearing full motorcycle gear,
blog
community members, and he encouraged even —from organizing hack days, to managing Chin noted that he’ll soon be touring Europe by
higher participation next year. mailing lists and forums, to triaging issues, to motorcycle on his NightHacking Tour, meeting
Oracle’s Donald Smith explored the impor- evangelism—all with the goal of fostering greater Java community members and streaming live via
tance of community in terms of fostering innova- community/developer involvement and building Ustream. Watch for coverage in our next issue.
PHOTOGRAPHS BY HARTMANN STUDIOS 07
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

9. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
GEEK
BIKE
JAVA IN ACTION
RIDE
Following the tradition of
JavaOne Latin America 2011,
a Geek Bike Ride marked
JAVA TECH
the beginning of JavaOne
2012 on a gorgeous day in
San Francisco. About 50
Java developers gathered at
Fisherman’s Wharf, rode or
skated through Fort Mason
and Crissy Field, crossed the
ABOUT US
Golden Gate Bridge, and fin-
ished in Sausalito. Riders
returned to San Francisco by
Clockwise from top: Geek Bike Ride participants paused ferry after a well-earned lunch.
for a photo op at the water’s edge; SouJava’s Juggy joined Participants donned Duke
in on the ride; bikers enjoyed a leisurely pace. bike jerseys, sponsored by
Oracle Technology Network.
To receive a jersey, partici-
pants had to answer a ques-
tion about Java. Questions
included “Who is the father
of Java?” “What’s the big-
gest Java conference in San
Francisco?” and “Name
one Duke’s Choice Award blog
winner from this year,” to
which participant Régina ten
Bruggencate answered, “Me!”
PHOTOGRAPHS BY YOSHIO TERADA 08
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

10. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
A HUGE OPPORTUNITY IN SMALL THINGS
JAVA IN ACTION
Addressing the strong demand for Java in the
embedded market, Oracle hosted a new Java
Embedded @ JavaOne event in San Francisco
October 3–4. In his keynote address, Oracle’s
Judson Althoff said that devices are all around
JAVA TECH
us, on 24/7, and connected all the time. The
explosion of devices is the next IT revolution and
Java is the right solution for this space, he said.
He noted that Java embedded solutions provide
a framework to provision, manage, and secure
devices as well as the ability to aggregate, pro-
cess, and analyze a multitude of data. Finally, he
ABOUT US
said, Java is one platform to program them all.
Terrance Barr, Java evangelist and Java ME
expert, is enthusiastic about the huge opportu-
nity. “It’s the right time and right place for Java
embedded,” he said. “Oracle is looking for part-
ners who want to take advantage of this next
wave in IT.” constrained, connected, embedded systems. It Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2.
The embedded space continues to heat up. is designed and optimized to meet the unique Oracle Java Embedded Suite 7.0 is a packaged
At JavaOne, Cinterion launched EHS5, an ultra- requirements of small, embedded, low-power solution (based on Oracle Java SE Embedded 7,
compact, high-speed machine-to-machine devices such as microcontrollers and other Java DB, and versions of GlassFish for Embedded
communication module providing secure wire- resource-constrained hardware without screens Suite and Jersey Web Services Framework),
less connectivity for a wide variety of industrial or user interfaces. created to provide value-added services for col-
applications. Oracle Java Wireless Client 3.2 is built around lecting, managing, and transmitting data to
an optimized Java ME implementation that and from other embedded devices. It is a com-
Oracle Unveils Embedded Products delivers a feature-rich application environment plete device-to-data-center solution subset for blog
Just before JavaOne, Oracle announced several for mass-market mobile devices. embedded systems.
products in the embedded space. Java ME Software Development Kit (SDK) 3.2
Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 is a complete provides a complete development environment
client Java runtime optimized for resource- for both Oracle Java ME Embedded 3.2 and
09
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

11. //java nation / JavaOne 2012 /
COMMUNITY
WOMEN IN TECH
JAVA IN ACTION
Every year, JavaOne hosts top-notch women technologists who are
pursuing careers in IT. They are inspired technologists and community
organizers.
This year, Trisha Gee, Régina ten Bruggencate, and Saskia Vermeer-
Régina ten Bruggencate
Ooms—three seasoned developers with more than a decade of program-
ming experience—talked about inspiring more women to be active in the
New JavaFX
community and to pursue careers in programming. They are leaders of Community Site
JAVA TECH
Duchess, a global network that connects women involved in Java. The net-
work has 500 members in 60 countries and a strong Web presence. In her on Java.net
session, “The Problem with Women: A Technical Approach,” Gee recom-
mended that women speak at and organize events, blog, and share their Community activity sur-
passion for programming—and not mention their gender. rounding JavaFX has been
Fabiane Nardon and Yara Senger are developers and active community steadily growing, with
leaders in Brazil. Nardon is a frequent speaker and a member of program tweets, blog posts, and
ABOUT US
committees at various Java conferences. Her JavaOne session covered projects increasing in num-
auto-scaling Web-based Java applications. Senger, the president of the ber. Now, there is a JavaFX
SouJava Java user group (JUG) and a cofounder of Globalcode, presented community site on Java.net.
sessions on the future of Java and on Java APIs for electronic devices and The main purpose of this
external boards. Founders of the DuchessBrazil network, they encouraged Trisha Gee site is to provide a focal
technical women to participate in the Java community. point for the JavaFX com-
Patrycja Wegrzynowicz and Gail Anderson are both cofounders of tech- munity, where relevant
nology companies. Wegrzynowicz specializes in automated software tweets, blog posts, and
engineering and Java technologies and is a cofounder and CTO of Yonita. other resources can be eas-
She presented on security vulnerabilities in open source Java libraries. ily found. Gerrit Grunwald
Anderson has been designing technical courses and authoring textbooks and Jim Weaver, the com-
for more than 20 years and is a cofounder of the Anderson Software Group, munity leaders for this site,
a leading provider of software development training. She presented the welcome your feedback.
session “Make Your Clients Richer.”
blog
“We need to stand up for ourselves in our lives and careers,” Senger said.
She recommends that women get involved in the Java community by join-
ing user groups and submitting proposals for talks at Java conferences.
Yara Senger
PHOTOGRAPHS BY ORACLE PHOTOGRAPHY, ORANGE PHOTOGRAPHY, TDC
10
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

12. //java nation /
COMMUNITY
JAVA BOOKS
GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA JUG
JAVA IN ACTION
Java Magazine caught up with
Greenville Java Users Group founder
John Yeary and five-year Java user
group (JUG) member Glen Peterson
at JavaOne 2012. Greenville, South
Carolina, is a small city surrounded by ORACLE CERTIFIED HADOOP IN PRACTICE
rural communities. Peterson noted that ASSOCIATE, JAVA SE 7 By Alex Holmes
JAVA TECH
Greenville JUG is “the most interest- PROGRAMMER STUDY GUIDE Manning Publications
ing thing going on between Greenville By Richard M. Reese (October 2012)
and Charlotte” (the closest big city). Packt Publishing (August 2012) Hadoop in Practice collects
So, does Greenville JUG have a tailor- Oracle Certified Associate, nearly 100 Hadoop exam-
made, captive audience? By no means. Java SE 7 Programmer Study ples and presents them in
Java evangelist Yeary founded the Guide addresses certifica- a problem/solution format.
group in 2002. The first few meetings consisted of up to 3 attendees. Today the group tion exam objectives and Each technique addresses
provides discussion and
ABOUT US
typically draws crowds in the 25-person range. a specific task you’ll face,
Growing Greenville JUG was an ongoing labor for Yeary and his fellow members. examples to show the best such as querying big data
The fact that the JUG was centered in a primarily rural area created difficulties in ways of applying Java lan- using Pig or writing a log
contacting people who might want to participate. Yeary experimented with various guage features in real-world file loader. You’ll explore
methods of outreach. His successes included a mailing list for technology managers. programming. Java SE 7 each problem step by step,
These people told their developers about Greenville JUG, and many developers who Associate Programmer cer- learning both how to build
had been initially encouraged by their managers to attend ultimately became regular tification adds to your quali- and deploy that specific
attendees at the JUG’s monthly meetings. fication as a Java developer. solution along with gain-
A recent turning point in Greenville JUG’s growth was when a JFrog representative Knowledge of Java is impor- ing an understanding of
stopped by to participate in a Greenville JUG meeting while on his way to OSCON. The tant, but knowing how to the thinking that went into
cost of making a stop at Greenville was small compared with the overall cost of the write efficient and produc- its design. As you work
OSCON trip, so Yeary was able to negotiate to get the presentation at the meeting. tive code adds to your skills through the tasks, you’ll
Yeary has this advice for JUG leaders who are seeking to find presenters for their and gives you an edge. find yourself growing more
JUG meetings: “Be yourself, and introduce the person to your region of the world and Coverage of the certification comfortable with Hadoop
to your local developer community—make them feel at home in your locale.” If you objectives goes beyond a and at home in the world of blog
do this, word will likely spread among potential speakers that it’s well worth their simple review, and chap- big data.
time to present at your JUG sessions. ters include sample exam
questions.
PHOTOGRAPH BY DAVE MCCLINTOCK, SNAPSHOTSC.COM
11
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

13. //java nation /
COMMUNITY
JAVA CHAMPION PROFILE
JONAS BONÉR
2012 JCP AWARD
WINNERS
JAVA IN ACTION
Jonas Bonér is a for fun (Programming Java Magazine: What
Swedish entrepreneur, in C++), and I realized are you looking forward
programmer, speaker, that that was what I to in the coming years?
and writer. He became wanted to do. It was Bonér: Family-wise,
a Java Champion in applied mathematics, I’m looking forward to
February 2011. and suited me very well. seeing the kids grow
Java Magazine: Where Java Magazine: What up; seeing what kind
did you grow up? was your first computer of people they will turn
JAVA TECH
Bonér: I grew up in and programming into; and being there
Uppsala, Sweden. Later, language? for them, listening,
I lived in Stockholm, Bonér: I did my very first and coaching them
and then in Östersund. programming in Pascal time with my family, to materialize their
Since my family loves on a Solaris terminal fishing, skiing, reading dreams. Business-wise,
skiing, we’ve also lived at the university; my novels, playing saxo- I’m looking forward
in Åre, Sweden; Serre first computer ran phone (tenor, alto, and to building a success-
ABOUT US
Chevalier, France; Slackware Linux. soprano), and listening ful business around
The 10th annual Java Community Process Alagna, Italy; and Bad Java Magazine: What to music. the open source stack
(JCP) Award winners were announced at Gastein/Salzburg, was your first profes- Java Magazine: What we are working on and
the JCP party at JavaOne 2012. The win- Austria, for periods sional programming side effects of your are passionate about.
ners were selected from an impressive list of time—all great ski job? career do you enjoy the Personally, I hope to
of nominees. This year’s JCP Member/ resorts. Bonér: My first pro- most? become a bit wiser and
Participant of the Year Award went to Java Magazine: When gramming job was Bonér: Traveling to better at understand-
two Java user groups, the London Java and how did you first as an IT consultant interesting places and ing, selecting, and
Community and SouJava (shown above), for become interested in Uppsala, doing meeting and learning focusing on the impor-
their historic contribution to the Adopt-a- in computers and CORBA [Common from smart, interest- tant things in life, the
JSR program and for supporting Java devel- programming? Object Request Broker ing people who are tiny things that make
opers through the JCP. The Outstanding Bonér: I was studying Architecture] and EJB passionate about all the difference.
Spec Lead Award went to Victor Grazi, math at the university, [Enterprise JavaBeans] what they do. Also, I
for his work on JSR 354, the Money and but I didn’t know what 1.0—what a joy! have enjoyed start- Visit Bonér’s company
Currency API. The Most Significant JSR to do with it. First I was Java Magazine: What do ing my own business site, Typesafe, and his blog
Award went to the JCP.Next effort, led by thinking of becoming you enjoy for fun and and everything I have latest open source
JCP Chair Patrick Curran. a math teacher. Then relaxation? learned from this project, Akka.
I took a CS course just Bonér: I enjoy spending journey!
12
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

14. //java nation /
COMMUNITY
convey that knowledge to Java JANUARY
developers at large. Spend time Take Off
with hundreds of other Java pro- JANUARY 17–18
fessionals, share best practices, LILLE, FRANCE
and take home practical advice
JAVA IN ACTION
This English-language confer-
that will make an immediate ence for Web developers and
and measurable difference to designers focuses on trending
your projects. topics. Session content ranges
from server side to pure front
Groovy and Grails eXchange end, from design and philoso-
2012 phy to new languages, and from
DECEMBER 13–14 frameworks to development
JAVA TECH
LONDON, ENGLAND techniques.
This two-day conference fea-
EVENTS
DECEMBER
tures two dozen expert-led
JDays 2012 FEBRUARY
talks, along with discussion
DECEMBER 3–5 Jfokus 2013
JavaOne Latin America DECEMBER 4–6, and brainstorming sessions, all
GOTHENBURG, SWEDEN FEBRUARY 4–6
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL focused on learning and sharing
JDays 2012 is a conference STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN
ideas, tools, and best practices
about Java, open source, and Jfokus is the largest annual
ABOUT US
Join Java developers and technologists for Java- for enterprise Web develop-
related technologies. The first conference for everyone who
focused content, training, and networking. ment with Groovy and Grails.
two days of the conference works with Java in Sweden. It is
Experts from the worldwide Java community feature a lineup of sessions arranged in collaboration with
share unique and leading-edge content with 7th Annual IndicThreads
that were voted on by the com- Pune Conference Javaforum Stockholm, a Swedish
attendees. As always, there are keynotes, tech- munity. Day 3 of the conference developer community and a Java
DECEMBER 13–15
nical sessions, hands-on labs, demos, exhibi- offers a full day of free courses user group. Over three days, get
PUNE, INDIA
tors, and more. Featured content tracks include and hands-on training. up to date on the latest devel-
This conference explores a
Core Java Platform; Development Tools and opments in the Java platform.
wide array of software develop-
Techniques; Emerging Languages on the JVM; Java Conference The agenda includes rock-star
ment tools and technologies in
Enterprise Service Architectures and the Cloud; DECEMBER 8 speakers, both from Sweden
Java; cloud computing; mobile
Java EE Web Profile and Platform Technologies; BANGALORE, INDIA and around the world, with
application development; and
Java ME, Java Card, Embedded, and Devices; and The Java Conference is an ideal a focus on systems develop-
emerging technologies such as
JavaFX and Rich User Experiences. And of course, place to obtain critical skills to ment with Java and surrounding
big data, gamification, HTML5,
there are opportunities to network so that you help you build, run, and man- techniques such as dynamic
and more.
can build your community, share your expertise, age tomorrow’s software solu- languages and agile methodolo- blog
and learn best practices. tions. The speakers are industry gies. Get the latest trends and
practitioners, selected for their buzz about Java from people
knowledge and their ability to who live and breathe technology.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JEREMY WOODHOUSE/GETTY IMAGES
13
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

15. COMMUNITY
(open source )
JAVA IN ACTION
JAVA TECH
C ontinuing our series of interviews
with distinguished members of
ABOUT US
the Executive Committee of the Java
Community Process (JCP), we turn to
Mike Milinkovich, executive director of
the Eclipse Foundation, which was cre-
ated in January 2004 as an indepen-
dent not-for-profit corporation to foster
a vendor-neutral, open, and transpar-
ent Eclipse community. Historically,
Eclipse became famous as a Java IDE
and a plug-in–based platform for
building software development tools.
JCP Executive Series
A CONVERSATION WITH MIKE MILINKOVICH blog
The Eclipse Foundation’s Mike Milinkovich assesses the state of Java and the JCP. BY JANICE J. HEISS
ART BY NICHOLAS PAVKOVIC, PHOTOGRAPHY BY BLAIR GABLE/GETTY IMAGES 14
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

16. COMMUNITY
Eclipse Foundation TopLink, which was acquired by a tools
Executive Director company named WebGain in 2000.
Mike Milinkovich meets Then in 2002, TopLink was acquired
with a colleague in by Oracle, where Milinkovich served
his Ottowa, Ontario,
JAVA IN ACTION
Canada, office. as vice president of Oracle application
server technical services. In 2004, he
assumed his present position where,
among his many duties, he represents
the Eclipse Foundation on the Executive
Committee of the JCP.
Java Magazine: Tell us about your day
JAVA TECH
job.
Milinkovich: I’ve had jobs where I
was a pure developer, and I’ve had
jobs where I was a pure business per-
son. And I’ve always been happiest
when I’m oscillating back and forth
between the two—and this job has
ABOUT US
this in spades.
So basically I spend a lot of time
keeping a pulse on what’s going on in
the Eclipse projects and making sure
the projects are well supported. We
may help project leaders by introduc-
ing them to others in the community
or making sure that their code reposi-
The Eclipse community now has more technologies have a say in the Eclipse tories and bug trackers are up and
than 200 projects, 190 organizational Foundation. running. On the business side, Eclipse
members, and a wealth of interest- Milinkovich has a long and diverse is also set up as a consortium. So we
ing technologies that go far beyond its history with Java that enables him to have a lot of member companies that
beginnings as a Java IDE. The Eclipse grasp a variety of perspectives. He first are trying to build a business or prod-
Foundation’s mandate is to ensure worked with Java as IBM’s VisualAge for ucts on top of Eclipse. We help them
that its projects are ready for commer- Java strategy manager in 1997. In 1999, move their business forward. Then blog
cial adoption. As such, its governance he left IBM to work at Object People. there’s always both member and proj-
model, development process, and IP In addition to its strong involvement ect recruitment.
management are tailored to make sure in Java training and consulting, Object So I spend a lot of time talking to
that consumers and adopters of Eclipse People had a persistence product, people in lots of different technology
15
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

17. COMMUNITY
ate in a transparent manner. That’s a nity. We see that at Eclipse, and I think
big step forward compared to six years it’s equally true at the JCP.
ago. And looking at Java as a whole, the Java Magazine: What is the best thing
Java platform is becoming more open, that has happened at the JCP in the
JAVA IN ACTION
with the basic platform work happen- last few years?
ing at OpenJDK and with the participa- Milinkovich: It’s really simple—we
tion of additional companies. got moving again. During the last
Java Magazine: Do you have any com- couple of years with Sun at the helm,
ments about the new presence of Java it was obvious that there wasn’t a lot
user groups on both the Executive of investment going on in Java. There
Committee and the JCP in general? was also the stalemate regarding
Milinkovich: I think it’s great. moving forward with Java 7 at the JCP
JAVA TECH
Specifically, the presence of Ben Evans Executive Committee level. And since
and Martijn Verburg from the London Oracle has taken the helm, we got
Java Community and Bruno Souza going again.
from Brazil’s SouJava has been a very Java 7 was shipped, and Java 8 and
positive influence. They bring the per- Java 9 are underway. And within the
spective of Java developers to the table, JCP itself, there have now been two
which I think has been somewhat revisions of the process documents,
ABOUT US
lacking in the past. Their voices are bringing the JCP 2.8 process forward,
Milinkovich is happiest domains about why they would want very important. In addition, in the last and then we have a second JSR to
mixing development to do open source at Eclipse. We talk couple of years, what I call “Java user merge the two executive committees
with business, and his about how they can use Eclipse to companies”—I’m thinking of Credit into one [JSR 355]. We are also starting
Eclipse Foundation leverage their business models and Suisse and Goldman Sachs—have another JSR to rewrite the JSPA [Java
position offers just
that mix. move forward. I have been in this job also joined the Executive Committee, Specification Participation Agreement]
now for more than eight years, and I bringing a very helpful perspective itself. So there’s been lots of valu-
still really enjoy it. to the conversations as able work in bringing
Java Magazine: In January 2007, consumers. They’re in OPEN VIEWS Java forward.
Eclipse joined the JCP. At that time,
you said, “Any changes we would be
the position of trying to
use this technology for
“Broadening the Java Magazine: In walk-
ing the fine line between
proposing to the JCP would center their customers’ needs perspectives [of] respecting standards and
around making the process more open and their business needs. your governance encouraging innovation,
and transparent.” How have things
gone in the subsequent five-and-a-
That’s an important
viewpoint. model helps any does the JCP err too far in
one direction or the other? blog
half years? Generally, broadening community. We see Milinkovich: Yes and no.
Milinkovich: I think it’s gone fairly well.
The new JCP 2.8 process document
the perspectives that you
have in your governance
that at Eclipse.” The JCP has a lot of differ-
ent JSRs underway, and
requires all JCP expert groups to oper- model helps any commu- there are a lot of different
16
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012

18. COMMUNITY
on an OpenJDK mailing list—that’s a
really good thing.
Java Magazine: Do you have any ideas
about how Oracle should best negoti-
JAVA IN ACTION
ate the inevitable tension between
running a business and leading an
open source Java community?
Milinkovich: Let me offer a lesson from
the Eclipse experience. Historically,
Eclipse started as an IBM project and
initially, there was lots of tension
between IBM and Sun Microsystems
JAVA TECH
about the future of Java and how Java
should be governed. And what IBM
tried in part to do when they set up the
Eclipse Foundation was demonstrate
how they thought Java should be gov-
Left: Milinkovich things going on. So there are areas innovation in the standards process. erned. The lesson learned was that if
analyzes some where I think they get it right and some That’s particularly true of bringing you truly set it free at arm’s length,
ABOUT US
development details where it’s not so good. in very new technologies and adding good things can happen. The Eclipse
with Wayne Beaton, First, innovating via standards is an them to the Java platform. Foundation today has nearly 190 orga-
director of open source
projects at Eclipse. inherently bad idea. Successful inno- Now, on the flip side, the JCP process nizational members. There are literally
Right: Spelling things vation is inherently about seeing which is also the mechanism by which the thousands of products that are built
out. ideas are truly useful. Standardizing Java platform has evolved. And I think on top of Eclipse. And to a consider-
technologies that haven’t already the more open and community-based able degree, that happened after IBM
proven themselves in that we can make the spec- let Eclipse go and set up the Eclipse
the marketplace means IDEAS FIRST ifications and the imple- Foundation as an independent entity.
that bad ideas inevitably “Innovating via mentations, the better the I’m not sure if Oracle could ever do
leak in. To cite my favor-
ite example, compare the
standards is an platform is going to be.
So in this context, the
that, in part because of the business
legacy of Java and the way it was ini-
adoption and success of inherently bad recent direction of closely tially established. But the more it
Spring versus CMP [con-
tainer-managed persis-
idea. Successfultying the work in the JCP
with what’s going on in the
can make the technology open to all
comers and operate through a trans-
tence]. So I think the JCP innovation is about
OpenJDK implementation parent and meritocratic community- blog
needs to focus on stan- seeing which ideas
is very positive. There’s a based approach, the more successful
dardizing innovations that
have already happened as are truly useful.”
process right now of get-
ting some of the spec work
it will be.
One area of tension between the
opposed to trying to inspire for the Java 8 JSR 337 done success of Java and Oracle’s business
17
ORACLE.COM/JAVAMAGAZINE //////////////////////////////// NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2012