The revitalization of the Java Community Process continues: For the Executive Committee Special Election (ends May 9), in which two ratified seats are open, Oracle has nominated two very worthy, and very complementary, candidates.

Just to refresh your memory, in January 2011, Oracle nominated the Brazil-based SouJava Java User Group, represented by Java Champion Bruno Souza, for one of those two ratified seats. (Nominees for ratified seats are proposed by Oracle in its role as the Java steward, but must be endorsed by a vote of the total JCP membership). SouJava is one of the oldest and largest Java user groups in the world, and by virtue of its national constituency, has deep roots into the Java and open-source communities. (Furthermore, as he likes to tell it, Bruno was also perhaps the first and only developer to actually pay for his JCP membership, back in the days when that was required.) The nomination of SouJava to be the first Java User Group member on the EC will give an even louder voice to the Java user group community and to the broader developer community, and will formally recognize the importance of Brazil in the Java world.

For the second ratified seat - and this process has taken some time due to the need to find a strong candidate - Oracle is nominating New York-based Goldman Sachs, represented by John Weir, Managing Director and CTO of Operations Technology. With this nomination, Oracle continues to deliver on its commitment to expand the representation of tech-savvy, non-vendor businesses with a very strong commitment to the success of Java. (Ericsson and Credit-Suisse are two other EC members in this category.)

For background purposes, consider the position statement provided by this nominee:

Goldman Sachs is a financial services firm built on its global technology enterprise. Technology is not only the largest division at Goldman Sachs, representing more than a quarter of the firm, but over two-thirds of its 8,000 members are application developers. With more than 130 million lines of Java code under management, development at Goldman Sachs is overwhelmingly Java-based, and there are more than 3,000 developers in its Java user group implementing systems which are then leveraged by over 10,000 end-users.

The firm custom-builds most of its software because of the unique technological problems presented by the nature and scale of its businesses; the critical importance of state-of-the-art capacity, latency and resilience; and the need to respond rapidly to clients. Its historical reliance on open source components, as well its extensive multi-vendor relationships, also give it deep experience with problems of interoperability and systems/software integration. As a major consumer of Java, Goldman Sachs is thus deeply invested in its future, and seeks to contribute to Java standards. We remain committed to the continued evolution of Java, both through the innovation of the broad Java community, and the ongoing process of standardization.

Oracle believes that considered in tandem, these two candidates offer the right balance of interests between corporate "consumers" of Java and the community at large. As Java ME Executive committee member John Rizzo of Aplix Corp. has described it, the former brings the perspective of a key industry investor, whereas the latter carries the voice and energy of a large and vibrant user community. Only with a diverse set of representatives from vendors, individuals, open source communities and participants, Java user groups, and technical leaders in businesses with strong Java practices, will the JCP be able to drive the kinds of changes needed to produce a better, more open, and more agile community process in the future.

JCP members, we need your participation to help make this happen! The Special Election ends on May 9, with members-elect taking their seats on May 10. Get involved - cast your vote!

JavaOne 2011, Oct. 2-6, San Francisco, promises to be a great conference--with your help.  The JavaOne Call for Papers is now open. Every year we get amazing proposals from well-recognized luminaries in the Java community. But newbies should not be intimated! We can't evaluate proposals that aren't submitted. Use your creativity! Share a topic that stands out. Showcase your unique approach to utilizing Java technology.

Sharat Chander, JavaOne Program Committee Chairperson, is eager to get started. "Now that the Call for Papers is open, I'm really looking forward to receiving even more quality submissions this year compared to last year's conference," he said. To hear more from Sharat about the Call for Papers, you can listen to this Java Spotlight Podcast.

IMPORTANT: Submit your proposal as soon as possible, the the Call for Papers closes May 23, less than four weeks from today.

After receiving tremendous constructive input and support from the community, we are pleased to announce that JavaOne 2011 will be held October 2-6, 2011 in San Francisco.  With increased investment and significant improvements, Oracle is committed to making JavaOne a success again this year and into the future.

For the past 15 years, JavaOne has been the leading collaboration and learning event bringing the Java community together.  With an exciting year for Java ahead, including the anticipated release of JDK 7 and JavaFX 2.0, the event will continue to provide up-to-date quality content as well as a look into what the future holds for Java.  

As in previous JavaOne conferences, Oracle will continue to recruit thought leaders in the Java community to help shape the content at this year's event. To learn more about community members who helped shape material in 2010, visit the JavaOne Program Review Committee page.

Call for Papers
We expect to open the call for papers on April 27th and close on Monday May 23rd, so keep your eyes and ears open for announcements.  This year, you can provide submissions for consideration that cover the following in-depth technical tracks:

1. Core Java Platform
2. Emerging Languages, Tools and Techniques
3. Enterprise Service Architectures and the Cloud
4. Java EE Web Profile and Platform Technologies
5. Java ME, Mobile, Embedded, and Devices
6. Java SE, Client-Side Technologies and Rich User Experiences
7. The Java Frontier

If you have questions about the call for papers, please contact speaker-services_ww@oracle.com.

JavaOne Conference Improvements

• Although taking place the same week as Oracle OpenWorld, JavaOne is being run as a separate, standalone conference, with its own fully dedicated conference space.  Compared with 2010, there will be larger sessions rooms and increased exhibitor space.
• Increase in the number of content slots including technical sessions, birds of a feather and hands on labs.
  
• More time and space for developer interaction and collaboration during the conference.
• Direct involvement from community representatives in planning/steering the event.

 
Register Now
The best way to make the most of your conference experience is to register early and secure the best rates on hotels.  The earlier you register, the better lodging options you'll have.  Register now.

Stay Connected
To stay on top of JavaOne conference news please bookmark the JavaOne Conference blog or visit the conference web site. And, also use these social media tools:

• Twitter: @javaoneconf
• Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/javaone
• LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1749197
  

NetBeans IDE 7.0 has just been released. NetBeans IDE 7.0 introduces language support for development to the upcoming JDK 7 release, currently available as a Developer Preview. That means the editor supports the Project Coin (JSR 334) language features such as strings in switch statements, the diamond operator, try-with-resources statements and more. "It allows you to write cleaner, more readable, less error-prone code," said John Jullion-Ceccarelli, NetBeans Engineering Manager.

The release also provides enhanced integration with the Oracle WebLogic server, as well as support for Oracle Database and GlassFish 3.1. Additional highlights include Maven 3 and HTML5 editing support; a new GridBagLayout designer for improved Swing GUI development; enhancements to the Java editor, and more.

NetBeans is free and open-source. You can download it from netbeans.org.

Congratulations to the NetBeans team! Na zdraví!

For more information:

Visit the NetBeans IDE 7.0 Release Page

Read the article "Oracle Announces NetBeans IDE 7.0 with Support for JDK 7 Developer Preview"

View the NetBeansTechCast with John Jullion-Ceccarelli, NetBeans Engineering Manager

Java Champion, and Oracle Magazine's "Java Developer of the Year" Adam Bien, begins his precise and clear article, titled "Contexts and Dependency Injection in Java EE 6" by addressing an embarrassment of riches in Java EE 6 that leaves developers with a diverse array of choices:

"Java Platform, Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 5 brought dependency injection (DI) with Convention over Configuration to Enterprise JavaBeans (EJB) 3.0. Java EE 6 introduces the flexible and powerful @Inject dependency injection model (JSR-330 and JSR-299) in addition to the already existing @EJB annotation. So when should you use what?"

Contexts and Dependency Injection (CDI), the new Java EE 6 specification, introduces the concept of "contextual" references or scopes. Managed beans in CDI live in well-defined scope and are created and destroyed on demand by the container. Adam Bien articulates the best ways to qualify and to configure the dependencies using typed annotations, known as "qualifiers" with optional attributes instead of plain strings.

All in all, Bien gives us a detailed understanding of an important step forward in Java EE. See the story here.

You are invited to subscribe for FREE to the NEW Java Magazine!

Java Magazine is an essential source of knowledge about Java technology, the Java programming language, and Java-based applications for people who rely on Java in their professional careers (or who aspire to).

The magazine will contain articles direct from Java engineers at Oracle as well as the Java community at large. Topic areas will include:

• Java Community News and Events


• "Java in Action" (Java application stories)


• Java Architecture


• New to Java


• Enterprise Java Programming


• Polyglot Programming


• Rich Client/|Web Development


• Mobile and Embedded Development

The first issue of Java Magazine will appear in late July and be published bi-monthly in web and mobile formats. Subscription is FREE- sign up today to stay informed on all things Java!

A new article, titled "Oracle Senior VP Steve Harris on Oracle's Vision of Java," summarizes a talk given by Steven G. Harris, Oracle's Senior VP of Application Server Development, on January 24 at the International Oracle Users Group Community (IOUC) Summit. The article offers a detailed articulation of Oracle's view of the state of the Java platform, the challenges it currently faces, and the vision of Java's future.

From the article:

"All of our middleware -- when we talk about Fusion Middleware -- is written in Java," Harris noted. "So here's the message: If Java is not successful, we will fail. We really want Java to be successful, so keeping Java open, and having developers working in Java is really critical to our success."

Read the entire article here.