Java Development for JEE/JSE Programmers and Architects who want to Extend C# Programming
In this new section, this website will demonstrate how close Java and .NET C# programming really have become. One main difference, however, is the variety of Java Enterprise Edition (JEE) and Java Standard Edition (JSE) Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) that now exist for this very important language. Visual Studio dominates the .NET IDE, and is very closely integrated into and optimized for the Microsoft's Windows operating system and product line including Office, IIS, and Internet Explorer - all proprietary. Conversely, the Java development environment is largely non-proprietary and open-source. This Java overview primarily will cover the JEE enterprise edition. Developers may pick from a variety of open-source frameworks (a set of built-in libraries and IDEs; for example Eclipse, JDeveloper, and NetBeans) are available to java programmers for no cost. For this Java advanced topics, the Oracle JDeveloper will be covered for Architects since it is optimized for JEE applications and the Oracle databaset. NetBeans will be used in the early sections of this new area of Java development. Another good alternative, the Eclipse IDE features a flexible plugin architecture that supports other programming languages such as C, C++, PHP, and JavaScript.
As a programmer and an architect, I personally like Oracle's free JDeveloper IDE since it provides a complete development and architectural set of tools very much like Microsoft's .NET IDE for UML class and application framework layout. The Oracle JDeveloper download and websight features a wealth of free tutorials and the also free Oracle Express database that is tightly integrated into JDeveloper application and complete framework development. The IDE features the same type of Model View Controller architectural paradigm for the JSP and ADF development options as explained at the beginning of this website for .NET programmers.
For a training aid, NetBeans is also a good IDE among the many free ones for Java. This really good IDE is available the the NetBeans download. The NetBeans IDE works well with the Murach Java Programming book, and for beginners, this is one of the best for interactive training on the basics of Java programming. For mainframe and COBOL programmers who need to update their procedural and structured coding, I have a PowerPoint 2010 download available for an introduction to object-oriented programming (OOP Introduction download).
Unlike most integrated development environments that use version numbers, the Eclipse IDE releases were many times, but not always, named after the moons of Jupiter. Each of the versions listed below denotes a successive release. The current Java Development Kit is version 7 (JDK 7).
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Release name | Platform version | Main release | SR1 | SR2 |
Callisto | 3.2 | June 26, 2006 | N/A | N/A |
Europa | 3.3 | June 27, 2007 | September 28, 2007 | February 29, 2008 |
Ganymede | 3.4 | June 25, 2008 | September 24, 2008 | February 25, 2009 |
Galileo | 3.5 | June 24, 2009 | September 25, 2009 | February 26, 2010 |
Helios | 3.6 | June 23, 2010 | September 24, 2010 | February 25, 2011 |
Indigo | 3.7 | June 22, 2011 | September 23, 2011 | February 24, 2012 |
Juno (planned) | 4.2 | June 27, 2012 | September 28, 2012 | February 22, 2013 |
Java Integrated Development Environment and Framework
Java is a popular programming language for developing desktop, web, and enterprise business applications. Java’s prevalence is primarily due to its platform independency that can be executed by the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) running on any operating system (Linux, Mac, or Windows). Originally developed by Sun Corporation (now part of Oracle), the Java lineage evolved into J2EE (for Java 2 Enterprise Edition), but now features three versions: JEE (Enterprise Edition), JSE (Standard Edition), and JME (Micro Edition for mobile apps).
Java applications run on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) that is the equivalent to the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR). The JVM is archtecturally neutral and will run on almost any operating system platform. Like .NET's Microsoft Intermedial Language (MSIL), Java is compiled into an intermediate code optimized for the JVM called "Bytecode." The JVM then servers as an interpreter for the bytecode.