OpenJDK

JEP 417, Vector API, has been promoted from Candidate to Proposed to Target status for JDK 18. Along with performance improvements, this JEP proposes to incorporate enhancements in response to feedback from the previous two rounds of incubation: JEP 414, Vector API, and JEP 338, Vector API. JEP 338 was integrated as an incubator module in JDK 16 and JEP 414 has been defined as one of the final JEPs targeted for JDK 17.

JDK 17

JDK 17 is scheduled to be released on today, September 14, 2021.

JDK 18

Build 14 of the JDK 18 early-access builds was made available this past week featuring updates from Build 13 that include fixes to various issues. More details may be found in the release notes.

For both JDK 17 and JDK 18, developers are encouraged to report bugs via the Java Bug Database.

The Road to Jakarta EE 10

Shortly after the Jakarta EE 10 release plan was revealed, the Jakarta EE Working Group introduced the new Jakarta EE Core Profile to complement the existing Platform Profile and Web Profile. This new profile is “focused on providing a minimal foundation for smaller runtimes that are suitable for microservices and also allows for ahead-of-time compilation.”

The concept of microservices emerged from the service-oriented architecture (SOA) that was introduced nearly 20 years ago. SOA applications used technologies such as the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) and Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) to build enterprise applications. Today, however, the Representational State Transfer (REST) protocol is the primary method for microservices to communicate with each other via HTTP.

Since 2018, we’ve seen three new open-source frameworks – Micronaut, Helidon and Quarkus – emerge to complement the already existing Java middleware open-source products such as Open Liberty, WildFly, Payara and Tomitribe. We have also seen the emergence of GraalVM, a polyglot virtual machine and platform created by Oracle Labs that, among other things, can convert applications to native code.

Now, the InfoQ eMag is introducing some of these microservices frameworks, MicroProfile, a set of APIs that optimizes enterprise Java for a microservices architecture, and GraalVM.

• The InfoQ eMag – Building Microservices in Java include:
  Spring Boot Tutorial: Building Microservices Deployed to Google Cloud – In this tutorial, the reader will get a chance to create a small Spring Boot application, containerize it and deploy it to Google Kubernetes Engine using Skaffold and the Cloud Code IntelliJ plugin.
• Getting Started with Quarkus: Quarkus created quite a buzz in the enterprise Java ecosystem in 2019. What exactly is Quarkus? How is it different from other technologies established in the market? How can Quarkus help me or my organization? To better explain the motivation behind the Quarkus project, we need to look into the current state of software development.
• Project Helidon Tutorial: Building Microservices with Oracle’s Lightweight Java Framework – Oracle introduced its new open-source framework, Helidon, in September 2018. Originally named Java for Cloud, Helidon is a collection of Java libraries for creating microservices-based applications.
• Virtual Panel: the MicroProfile Influence on Microservices Frameworks – In mid-2016, the MicroProfile initiative was created as a collaboration of vendors to deliver microservices for enterprise Java. InfoQ recently asked the opinion of expert practitioners on how MicroProfile has influenced how developers today are building microservices-based applications, the emergence of new microservices frameworks and reverting back to monolith-based applications development.