A modular version of Java Platform Micro Edition (Java ME) could be on the horizon, at least that's what Jeet Kaul, vice president of Sun's client software group, told The Register. The goal is to make this version available sometime in 2010, allowing netbooks running Java to offer more of the kinds of features used in cell phones and bring functionality found on laptops to some smart phones.

"Currently netbooks run Java on the desktop, but we want them to be able to do mobile things, so we want those mobile APIs to be available here and that - rather than having two VMs - we want to have it modular," Kaul said to The Register's Gavin Clarke during Oracle OpenWorld 2009.

Currently, netbooks must use Java Platform Standard Edition (Java SE), which is used on notebooks and PCs.

Kaul said Sun and partners are trying to figure out when and how to release the modular version of Java ME, which will also bring dynamic languages like JRuby to mobile.

"The first effort on modularization is on SE. As we do that we are building a mobile version as we speak, and we are building a version for the netbooks," Kaul said.

Of course, development will depend on what happens to JavaFX once the acquisition of Sun is completed by Oracle. JavaFX is Sun's preferred option for interface programming on mobile, PC and TV.

As Clarke sees it, Oracle would need to adapt its developer tools strategy to incorporate JavaFX. The database giant's standard for Java and SOA is its JDeveloper suite. Oracle would need to retain NetBeans because it's the only suite and framework that works with JavaFX.

The industry's modularity work on Java started with Java SE 6.0 and will see its latest incarnation in the latest release of Java Enterprise Edition (Java EE) 6.0, which introduces profiles - subsets of APIs for particular classes of application such as financial or telecommunications.

The move to modularity could also make updates to Java simpler, as the community could update specific APIs or slide in new functionality instead of waiting to refresh the entire stack.

Kaul implied that Sun and its partners might use the Java EE 6.0 modularity push to build a profile for netbooks, Clarke surmised, noting that so far only one profile is planned - a Java EE Web Profile for "modern web application development".

With a modular stack, mobile could use the same VM as SE and EE. The ability to run dynamic languages on mobile is an important part of this work, since Sun's VM work with, for example, JRuby means a separate VM or additional programming framework tailored to that specific language would not be needed.

Kaul clarified, "We don't want one big huge globule put together. We just want to say: 'If you want this functionality, you got it.'"

He called the ability to swap in and out features and to run dynamic languages on mobile, part of an attempt to build a "next generation mobile platform" using Java.

More Information

Java EE at a Glance

Java SE at a Glance

JavaFX [...read more...]

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