Sun Releases the Tiger

Sun has formally released the tiger... Project Tiger that is. They announced the much anticipated beta program for Code Project Tiger, the Java^TM 2 Platform, Standard Edition 1.5 -- J2SE^TM 1.5. on Thursday. This is the first major release of Java since version 1.4 was released was release two years ago.

Key Updates to the Beta

The language updates in the new version allow developers to be more efficient and more productive by supporting faster and more secure coding. New features include generics, enumerated types, metadata and autoboxing of primitive types. Performance improvements integral to the new release include reduced startup time, a smaller memory footprint and Java Virtual Machine (JVM^TM) auto-tuning to drive greater overall application and development performance on the new platform. Monitoring and manageability is a key focus for the release, and J2SE 1.5 features improvements that allow Java technology-based applications created on the J2SE 1.5 platform to be deployed into existing SNMP-based enterprise management systems. This allows the JVM software to be monitored and managed for higher levels of reliability, availability and serviceability. Also new in J2SE 1.5 platform is the inclusion of the Java Management Extensions (JMX^TM), delivering out-of-the-box deployment to enterprise management systems that support JMX.

NetBeans 3.6 Beta Also Released

J2SE 1.5 also includes continued support for rich application development that integrated development environment (IDE) vendors can take advantage of to provide an even greater developer experience. One of the first IDEs to support the new J2SE 1.5 technology capabilities is the NetBeans^TM open source IDE. With over 2.1 million downloads since June 2003, the popular NetBeans software tools framework is staged for a new release, version 3.6, which is expected to be available via beta program this week. NetBeans release 3.6 is compatible with the J2SE 1.5 release, and NetBeans release 4.0 is expected to be fully optimized to take advantage of J2SE 1.5 platform features. NetBeans release 3.6 beta will be available located at http://netbeans.org.

Beta Program Enrollment Open Now

J2SE 1.5 has been developed under the Java Community Process[sm] (JCP[sm]) as Java Specification Request (JSR) 176, which is led by Sun and an expert group of industry-recognized corporate and individual developers. The JSR recently won a unanimous vote in the JCP Executive Committee, making way for the beta program to officially open, and accept participants immediately. For more information and to participate in the J2SE 1.5 beta program, visit http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.5.

See the following Gamelan.com article for more details on Tiger and its expectations:

• In Anticipation of Tiger
• J2SE 1.5 - Effective Java Programming with Tiger
• Are Java Developers Ready for Hunting Tiger?

This article was originally published on February 7, 2004