The Eclipse Foundation is preparing the next round of technologies to be added to enterprise Java, which it now runs. (Last year, the foundation was charged with developing Java EE (Enterprise Edition), in the wake of Oracle’s abdication of its stewardship of the project.)
Eclipse expects about 35 to 40 new projects as part of its open source enterprise Java implementation.
The foundation expects Eclipse Enterprise for Java (EE4J) project to ship a Java EE 8-compliant project as soon as possible, with a release of the GlassFish application server and related projects. GlassFish has served as a reference implementation of enterprise Java. Java EE 8 has been set as the baseline for Eclipse’s development of new enterprise Java standards.
After having moved forward with the initial nine Java EE proposals in November, Eclipse expects code from other projects to move over to Eclipse as well. Oracle will propose that Eclipse take on JSON-B API, which offers a standard binding layer to convert Java objects to or from JSON messages. Oracle also is set to move JavaMail, for building messaging and mail applications, for inclusion in the enterprise Java upgrade.
The foundation also expects enterprise Java to expand its support of cloud deployments and microservices.
Other projects expected to be added to Eclipse's enterprise Java arsenal include:
- Java Architecture for XML Binding (JAX-B), to automate mapping between XML objects and Java objects.
- Java API for XML Web Services (JAX-WS), for building web services.
- JavaServer Pages Standard Tag Library (JSTL), encapsulating as simple tags the core functionality common to web applications.
- Unified Expression Language (UEL), uniting expression languages from JavaServer Pages and JavaServer Faces.
- Java Transaction API (JTA), specifying standard interfaces between a transaction manager and parties in a distributed transaction system, including the application server, resource manager and transactional applications.
- JavaBeans Action Framework (JAF), to access standard services for determining the type of an arbitrary piece of data, encapsulate access to it and discover operations it offers.
New brand name, governance model expected
Aside from pursuing technologies for inclusion in enterprise Java, the foundation also plans to select a new brand name to replace the Java EE name. A list of potential names is undergoing trademark review.
Eclipse also plans to establish a working group to provide a “member-driven” governance model for the EE4J community.