The Java Wild series!

This blog has been silent for more than 2 months now... And this just after I started some good work on the great kijaro project. I'm really happy to say that it was for a great trip to Guatemala where we picked up our newly adopted child.






This is the first time ever since I discovered coding (1985) that I did not write one line of code for 2 months in a row ;-) Very relaxing, and I still have a very hard time going back ;-)

Anyway, even without coding I've spent a lot of time reading blogs and article about The End of Java and other worrying thoughts. All this ended up in this Java Wild entries. Playing with Kijaro and the different patches that can change the Java language clarified what I really want from Java and the platform.

The conclusion is that the most critical feature needed for Java 7 (and maybe even for 6 update N) is: Modularity. The JDK needs to be built out of nice dependent modules with superpackages and JSR-277 (or OSGi) packaging. This is critical for the future of Java. And Stephen's blog entry about the JCP inefficiency and OSGi vs. JSR-277 war is, for me, the darkest cloud above Java.

Mostly my thinking about the topics covered in my Java Wild series goes: "If it helps write to modules: good". But beside this I really went wild, and it was fun.

1. The first entry is about properties that really got bad publicity lately. One entry was too much, so there is: "Wild Java Properties, the Road so Far" and "Wild Java Properties, The Wild Part".
   
2. The second entry is about extension methods and how Modules and API can really benefits from them.
3. And the third is, again, about checked exceptions.

I wanted to publish all these in one go, because I hate suspense ;-), but time is running out. So, I'll do it in steps.

Anyway, the "sad" conclusion of all this work and thinking is that I bought the Scala book, and starting today, will start playing on the grass of Java neighbors. May be, it is really greener?