#java9

IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2 is finally here. This massive update for IntelliJ IDEA contains an abundance of features and important bugfixes. There’s Kotlin 1.1.3 support, Groovy 2.5.0 support, smarter coding assistance, Java 9 module diagrams and more.

Never a dull moment with Java 9. First, the JCP EC decided not to approve the Public Review Ballot for JSR 376 but then they signed off on the Reconsideration Ballot. Java 9 will be released on September 21 but will developers get started on JDK 9 without modules? In the second part of our interview series, Java influencers weigh in on Java 9 and the modular ecosystem.

These days, Java 9 developers have their hands full with Jigsaw but that doesn’t mean the community is sitting around doing nothing until September. They took Java 9 for a spin and discovered that not all Java 8 code reacts well to Java 9.

In late May, Mark Reinhold proposed to “adjust the General Availability date in order to accommodate the additional time required to move through the JCP process.” Since there were no objections to the proposed eight-week extension, Java 9 will be released on September 21.

The release of Java 9 could be delayed to September 21, 2017. What does this mean for Jigsaw? What does this mean for developers? We talked to Georges Saab, chairperson of the OpenJDK governing board and vice president of development for the Java Platform group at Oracle about the proposal to delay the release of Java 9, the roadmap towards Java 10 and more.

Lucky number three. The third meeting of the Jigsaw Expert Group (they also met on May 17 and 22) offered an answer to the question on everyone’s lips: Is the group ready to move forward? Let’s have a look at the minutes.

Mark Reinhold, Chief Architect of the Java Platform Group at Oracle, came up with the proposal to allow illegal reflective access from code on the class path by default in JDK 9 and to disallow it in a future release. Although the idea was well received, he emphasized that the change won’t “magically solve every JDK 9 adoption problem.”

Apache Maven is one of the actors that criticized the current state of Jigsaw. We caught up with Robert Scholte, chairman of the Apache Maven Project to chat about how well Maven is already working with Java 9, what is still problematic about Jigsaw and how the roadmap to Maven 5 looks like.

The clock is ticking: Although the EC didn’t approve the Public Review Ballot for JSR 376, the Jigsaw ship has not sailed yet. We caught up with Rémi Forax, a member of the Jigsaw expert group at JAX 2017 to chat about the impact of the vote on the state of Java 9 and the criticism surrounding Jigsaw.

Anything can happen in 30 days. Although the EC didn’t approve the Public Review Ballot for JSR 376, the Jigsaw ship has not sailed yet. David Blevins, founder and CEO of Tomitribe explained in a blog post why people should think past the red checkbox.

The Public Review Ballot for JSR 376, the Java Platform Module System is behind us. The EC has not approved it and now the race to build a better version has begun. Let’s dissect the vote log and representatives’ comments after casting their votes.

The finish line is almost in sight but it could turn out to be an illusion as the Public Review Ballot for JSR 376 closes today. Mark Reinhold, the Specification Lead for this JSR, wrote an open letter to the JCP Executive Committee in which he explained why “a vote against this JSR due to lack of consensus in the EG is a vote against the Java Community Process itself.”

Mark Reinhold, the Chief Architect of the Java Platform Group at Oracle, announced in a message to the OpenJDK mailing list that the second phase of the rampdown process has begun.

The countdown for Java 9 has officially begun and here’s the proof: Oracle’s Iris Clark announced the availability of the draft Public Review Specification and explained that, if everything goes well, it will be submitted to the JCP Program Management Office (PMO) for the formal Public Review period next week.