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Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

At 9:26 AM on Dec 6, 2007, Geertjan wrote:

The end of the year is a time of lists. Lists of Christmas presents. Lists of potential vacation destinations. Lists of guests to family get togethers. Lists of things to do before the end of the year. Lists of successes in 2007. Lists of failures. Lists of favorite books read in 2007. Lists of favorite lists. Clearly, it is time for yet another list.

In this list, we will list the top 5 Java related releases of the past year. To clarify, only those releases released during this year, starting from 1 January 2007, can be considered for inclusion. So, for example, Java SE 6 doesn't make the cut, since it was released in December 2006.

Here, until persuaded otherwise, is my list:

  • Groovy 1.0. Released on the 2nd of January , Groovy 1.0 is the dynamic language for the JVM, since it integrates seamlessly with the Java platform. The release was accompanied by Groovy parties around the world.

  • Spring 2.5. The popular full stack Java EE 5 application framework. Aligning itself with JDK 5 language features, Spring 2.5 integrates with JDK 6, partly in the form of enhanced JDBC support. The enhancements in the 2.5 release, despite being a dot release, were many, specifically focusing on a set of pumped up annotation options, but also providing improved testing options, messaging support, annotated web controllers, AspectJ integration, WebSphere integration, and component autodetection.

  • Jersey. The open source JAX-RS (JSR 311) Reference Implementation for building RESTful Web services in a simpler, more direct way. Zero dot releases have come out throughout the year and the plan going forward (according to the Jersey site's news section) "is to release a new version approximately every month".

  • JFugue 3.x. The open-source Java API for programming music without the complexities of MIDI. The most interesting thing about the 3.x series is the ability to open existing MIDI files and convert them to human readable music strings which can be further processed via the JFugue API.

  • IDEs. Each of the major IDEs, i.e., Eclipse, NetBeans IDE, and IDEA IntelliJ, came out with new releases sporting a wide array of shiny new features.

These are mine (and I've probably forgotten a few that I would have listed if I had remembered them). What are your nominations?

12 replies so far ( Post your own)

1 . At 10:27 AM on Dec 6, 2007, Jesper Nordenberg DeveloperZone Top 100 wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

My favourites:

- Scala 2.x , continuing on the path to becoming THE programming language for the JVM

- NetBeans 6.0 , most improved open source IDE, only missing a Scala plugin now ;)

- OpenJDK , maybe not a "release", but the existance of an open source JDK is a huge step forward

The two remaining entries are left as an exercise for the reader.
Jesper Nordenberg - Swedish Java developer
InfoNode - Swing components -- OctLight - Java game engine -- JCore - Java core components
2 . At 11:13 AM on Dec 6, 2007, chhum wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

When I though about this I was surprised at how many Sun related initiatives seemed to be on my list. In no particular order I would go for:

Google Guice - great, lightweight dependency injection framework - a good alternative to Spring.

JBOSS SEAM 2 – excellent web integration framework for J2EE.

Sun Netbeans 6 – Extremely good open source IDE.

Sun JavaFX – Early days but this and the corresponding push on the JRE update N is encouraging. Lets hope that the media components, when they emerge, and the tooling live up to the capabilities of the platform.

Sun GlassFish V2 – Great open source alternative to JBoss with excellent support for JEE5.

3 . At 11:29 AM on Dec 6, 2007, David wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I'd have to pick:

Seam
GlassFish
NetBeans 6
Spring 2.5
Java 6 (Although it was released in 2006, it was released within the last 12 months - just!!) ;)
4 . At 11:56 AM on Dec 6, 2007, Michael Nischt wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I completely agree with Jesper

- Scala 2.x , continuing on the path to becoming THE programming language for the JVM

- OpenJDK , maybe not a "release", but the existance of an open source JDK is a huge step forward

- NetBeans 6.0 , most improved open source IDE, only missing a Scala plugin now ;)

For me the two missing are

- SoyLatte, Java 6 Port for Mac OS X 10.4 and 10.5 (Intel)

- Java 6 Update N (Preview Releases) - Because Sun finally starts to care about the Desktop :-)
5 . At 2:10 PM on Dec 10, 2007, Tim wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

My personal top 5:

1 - Derby 10.3 release in August

2 - Jides releasing Common components as Open Source

3 - Java 6 release with the DoubleBuffer paint fix

4 - Prefuse going Beta in October

and

5 - Eclipse Europa, absolutely amazing release
----
My Money Personal Financial Software
6 . At 2:12 PM on Dec 10, 2007, M!k3 wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I still hope for Apache Wicket 1.3.
7 . At 3:54 PM on Dec 10, 2007, cowwoc wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I agree with Michael: Java Update N is the biggest thing for me in 2007 because Sun is finally targeting on desktop Java applications.
8 . At 5:05 PM on Dec 10, 2007, Ali Sharghi wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

english is NOT my first language .

I also think Wicket is winner.
I still do'nt know why sun not want see this framework is better than JSF .

I track wicket since it was in SF , but now it is apache.

if you want measure power of wicket , please see
following cases :

IModel ,
IDataProvider ,
IBehavior , IAjaxBehavior
optional ajax without JS (%95)
....
Template is XHTML
Logic is POJO (go to root , why still JSTL , tags ...)

Some tell we like templates keep all together , but like most fresh consept of wicket , i see wicket recommend that each component keep its templates in its packages
(wikcet allow customize) but aim is that you jar it and reuse it between projects . consumer/clinet of component no neened aware of bundle (js/css/img... ) , only must put jar of component in WEB-INF/lib

Mmarkup inheritance and/or borders / panels (why velocity , ....)
9 . At 6:06 PM on Dec 10, 2007, Chris Johnston wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

My picks (in order of importance):

* JRuby
* NetBeans 6.0 (with Ruby/JRuby support)
* Wicket
* OpenJDK
Chris Johnston
http://www.fuzzylizard.com
10 . At 11:21 PM on Dec 10, 2007, Daesung Park wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I am not an early adaptor, but following stuffs help me a lot.

* Eclipse Europa
* Findbugs 1.2.x
* Mylyn
Daesung Park Blog
11 . At 10:50 AM on Dec 12, 2007, Alexander Hristov DeveloperZone Top 100 wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

> I am not an early adaptor, but following stuffs help
> me a lot.
>
> * Eclipse Europa
> * Findbugs 1.2.x
> * Mylyn

Yep, Findbugs is great, just like Checkclipse. I just wish it had a way of removing a "would-be" bug out of sight in Eclipse without having to filter-out the whole category.
Planetalia - Cursos de Java
12 . At 2:14 PM on Dec 12, 2007, Geertjan wrote:
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Re: Top 5 Java-Related Releases of 2007

I'd like to add the Scene Graph API to my list. Couldn't do so before today, because I only found out about it today..
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