Sun Improves Javas Security, Language Skills

At its JavaOne conference next week in San Francisco, Sun Microsystems Inc. will highlight features of the next version of Java, code-named Mustang.

The new features in Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition 6.0 will be in six primary areas: Java programming language and tools, security and networking, Java Management Extensions, serviceability, core libraries, and enterprise client and XML, according to members of the Java Development Kit Core Engineering Team.

Sun officials in Santa Clara, Calif., said no language changes are in store for Mustang, but there are some JSRs (Java Specification Requests) in the works that will extend the platforms ability to process language.

One JSR involving language support is JSR 223, planned for inclusion in Mustang. JSR 223, also known as "Scripting for the Java Platform," is an initiative to enable scripting languages to integrate with the Java platform. Mustang will also include a JavaScript engine based on Mozilla Rhino, an open-source implementation of JavaScript, written in Java.

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Other language-related JSRs are JSR 199, the Java Compiler API, which defines a framework for compiling source files within applications; and JSR 269, the Pluggable Annotation Processing API that standardizes Javas annotation processing tool, the team said.

To increase security, Sun plans to add support for XML Digital Signatures (JSR 105) and for JSR 268, the Smart Card I/O API, which will enable Java applications to interact with applications on smart cards.

Other new security features planned for Mustang include native-platform integration of Java Generic Security Services and Kerberos, support for the Simple and Protected GSS-API Negotiation Mechanism, a Java Authentication and Authorization Service log-in module that employs LDAP authentication, and a security certificate request framework.

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New networking features are slated to include internationalized domain names and resource identifiers and programmatic access to network parameters, Sun officials said.

Meanwhile, as Sun continues to add touches to Mustang, the company also is looking ahead to J2SE (Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition) 7.0, code-named Dolphin. The current version of Java, Java 5.0, is code-named Tiger.

On the JMX (Java Management Extensions) front, Sun is working on building out Version 2.0 of the JMX API with JSR 255, but that is slated for Dolphin. Mustang will include Version 1.3 of JMX.

Serviceability improvements will include run-time support for DTrace (Dynamic Tracing), making the jconsole feature more user-friendly, improving "diagnosability," improving the JVM tool interface and improving the JPDA (Java Platform Debug Architecture) among others.

Core library improvements include fixes to finding free disk space and enabling the java.io.File class file to support long paths in Windows.

Next Page: XML and Web services focus.