This project will outline a programming model, that is, Java classes and APIs for writing code on clients and servers, and a description of how to deploy a Web service atop the Java2 Enterprise Edition specification. The expert group guiding this project plans to have a draft document for review by the Java community in August. The new version incorporates support for XML, which is essential to any concept of Web services. Also new is an updated set of Java Foundation Classes for client graphical user interface tasks, faster Java two-dimensional graphics and improved security with the integration of such extensions as Java Cryptography. Final code for J2SE 1.4 will ship by year-end, according to Sun.
Developers face an array of key challenges in building Web services in the short term.
These include learning and using XML message formats, creating service databases called registries, and learning to work with non-Java Web services, such as those based on Microsoft .Net. More Java buzz A good deal of the other JavaOne activity this week surrounds recent or upcoming Java software implementations, the output of the Java community process. One key change is letting EJBs work with the Java Message Service. This will let Java components interact using different types of asynchronous messaging, such as e-mail, HTTP and Java Message Service. Another change in EJB 2.0 will make it easier to create and relate EJBs to back-end databases, a process called persistence.