Ovidiu Predescu's Weblog

JavaOne - MacOS X Java session

10:55am I'm now in the MacOS X Java Technology Overview session - The Ultimate Java Development Plan - presented by Alan Samuel, a "Java Technologies Evangelist" at Apple. Pretty good attendance, the room although small, is packed (more than 100 people I think).

11:02am It started. Most of the people in the room develop in Java on MacOS X, a lot more since few years ago, when the presenter asked the same question and got only 4-5 people doing Java development on MacOS X. Lots of talk about why use Apple hardware and software and develop Java on it. Tools: Apple's ProjectBuilder as well as third-party tools. Enterprise applications: Oracle 11i, SAP etc. Server strategy: WebObjects, Tomcat, 3rd party tools and J2EE servers running on Xserve. JDK 1.4.1 had over 1 million downloads to date.

In 1.3.1 there were 1842 Java classes and 900 custom Apple classes. In 1.4.1 there are 2991 Java classes and only 300 custom Apple classes. The AWT is re-implemented in Cocoa (rotated tabs, translucent windows). The JDK plug-in is now supported in Safari. MacOS X supports both JVM versions at the same time, with 1.3.1 being the default one. The JVM could be specified on a per-application basis.

JDK is optimized for MacOS X: Aqua look-and-feel, access to Quartz Extreme using just the standard Java APIs. The result is more responsive UIs, live re-sizing, smoother scrolling and snappy feedback. The Java Internet Plug-in has faster loading of applets, enhanced applet caching, integrated with Keychain and printing. Java WebStart updated to version 1.2, works with Keychain and adds automatic app creation. Keychain implemented using Secure Transport (?), certificates stored in Keychain. Good accessibility support, no need for Java Access Bridge: full screen reader support, full keyboard access and visual notification (hm, I wonder why the Tab key doesn't work to switch between most controls, including buttons). Support for handwriting support using Inkwell and for sound input. The new JDK version includes AppleScript support: scriptable UIs widgets. Shared system jars with system objects being shared between each VM (I guess very similar to shared libraries in the C world). This saves 3-6Mb per application with savings mainly in Swing and AWT-based apps - even more optimizations coming.

11:32am He's now giving a demo using Marratech Pro 3.4, an impressive Java collaborative tool that integrates video and a board for sharing documents. The software is built by a Swedish company. The presenter is Serge Lachapelle and he's talking from Sweden together with two other people, Magnus, Rolf and Rickard also online. The communication protocol is encrypted using 128bit keys. The application ran initially only on expensive Solaris boxes, but was easy to port to MacOS X on Java 1.4.1, including the native libraries written in C. (BTW, the sound quality is great, even though the video stream is pretty crapy, only 1-2fps).

11:42am Back to the presentation. Few tips on how to write Java apps for MacOS X, all of them documented on the ADC Web site. Don't use modifier keys directly, use Toolkit.getMenuShortcutKeyMask(). Not all look and feels are the same: use layout managers instead of explicitly placing the components. Query UIManager, toolkit for colors and icons.

Few words on Panther: we'll be "shocked" by the new operating system. It will be announced two weeks from now at WWDC at Moscone Center in San Francisco (the same location as JavaOne).