With 'Glasgow' and 'Edinburgh' developers can add component functionality
San Mateo (April 26, 1997) — As reported previously in JavaWorld, JavaSoft currently is collecting ideas and industry input for the next two generations of its JavaBeans specification, the first of which is slated for release next quarter.
The company is lining up features for next quarter’s JavaBeans update, code-named Glasgow, which will likely introduce an aggregation and delegation model that will make it easier for developers to glue various JavaBeans together to create applications.
However, JavaSoft stressed that Glasgow as well as its 1998 successor, code-named Edinburgh, are “under investigation” and subject to change.
“As before, we are talking to our partners like Corel, Lotus, and IBM,” said Gina Centoni, JavaSoft’s product-line manager for JavaBeans. “We hope to provide a spec for open review later [next quarter].”
Glasgow will let developers add data typing and registry functions to JavaBeans, making it possible for a Bean to detect other Beans that are already present on a user’s PC.
Glasgow’s specifications are due in the first half of 1997, and the implementation is due in the second half of 1997.
Edinburgh’s tentative features include a composite interface for embedding a user interface into a JavaBeans component. It will also offer persistence, officials said.
The specifications for Edinburgh are due in the second half of 1997, and the implementation is due in the first half of 1998.
As JavaSoft hammers out the next releases of JavaBeans, it is careful to stress that the choice of the surrounding communications layer will be up to developers, who can opt for the CORBA-based Internet Inter-ORB Protocol or JavaSoft’s Remote Method Invocation (RMI).
This choice will likely be based on how heavy an investment users make in CORBA technologies, Centoni said. However, Centoni added that users building new architectures from the ground up are interested in using JavaBeans and RMI.
Some industry observers find JavaSoft’s message confusing.
“SunSoft and JavaSoft really have to get clear about what their message is with CORBA and RMI,” said Melinda Ballou, senior research analyst with the Meta Group, in Stamford, CT. “I would like to see a clear strategy coming from them.”
Also next quarter, JavaSoft plans to release Version 1.2 of the Java Development Kit (JDK), which will include a security model that allows Java applets to run outside the runtime environment. It also plans to deliver a beta release of its HotSpot virtual machine, which JavaSoft says can accelerate Java development to the level of C++ in terms of performance by better tuning the application code.
