Sun takes the covers off Mustang
Published: 29 Jun 2005 12:20 BST
Although the plan for Dolphin is more tentative, Reinhold said there are a number of features that Sun may add in this release, such as a complete revision of JAR files and language-level support for XML.
Some of new features and enhancements in Mustang include:
Scripting — JSR 223
You'll be able to use scripting languages within Java applications, which will be interpreted by a scripting engine included in the Java platform. Incorporating scripting code will be relatively easy, according to Reinhold. "You can interpret JavaScript in Java programs with only 3 lines of code," he said.
JDBC 4.0 API — JSR 221
The next version of JDBC will include ease of development features such as automatic java.sql.Driver discovery and SQLException improvements. This will cut down the amount of code needed, according to Reinhold. "You only have to drop the JAR file in and it automatically catches exceptions. You can get rid of the extra code," he said.
Javadoc tag update — JSR 260
The new version of Javadoc will allow API authors to write more flexible and accessible documentation through features such as providing a "newbie" and "advanced" view of a class. Reinhold said this update is essential to make it easier for you to navigate through the documentation for large classes. "Javadoc hasn't scaled as well as the programming language has — it doesn't do much to help you navigate it," he said.
Streaming API for XML — JSR 173
This API will specify a pull-parsing API for XML — you can ask for the next event. At present, the only ways that you can parse XML is through the SAX or DOM API, which forces you to respond to events caught by event handlers. Reinhold said these APIs can be "clumsy" to work with and the streaming API will be more suitable for some applications.
"Many kinds of XML driven programs don't fit into this event driven style," said Reinhold. "[Streaming API] is a much more natural way to be writing code."
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