The latest release of Sun Microsystems Inc.'s blueprints for building Java applications was released Wednesday, with added support for 64-bit processors, the company said.
Sun said developers can now download version 1.4 of J2SE (Java2 Standard Edition), which provides a set of specifications for developers to follow when writing Java applications. A slew of vendors such as Oracle Corp., IBM Corp. and BEA Systems Inc. develop software based on the Java specifications, which are also used by large corporations to develop custom applications.
Compared to the previous version of J2SE, Sun is promoting the update as a platform that can be used to build higher-performance applications such as those used for large-scale data mining, business intelligence and scientific computing.
Version 1.4 includes built-in support for XML (Extensible Markup Language), as well as new I/O (input/output) technologies and use with 64-bit processors, Sun said. Coupled with its Web Services Developer Pack, which supports standards such as SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) and UDDI (Universal Description and Discovery Integration), version 1.4 provides developers with tools to begin testing and deploying Web services, Sun said.
Also new to the release is the process by which it was developed. This will be the first version of J2SE to be developed and submitted through the Java Community Process, which oversees the development of Java. As part of the process, 39 software vendors that build products based on Java were able to give input on new features, Sun said.
In addition to J2SE, Sun has created a more complex version of the architecture for servers, called J2EE (Java2 Enterprise Edition), version 1.3 of which was recently announced. The company also offers J2ME (Java2 Micro Edition), which Sun pitches for use in mobile phones, gaming machines and other gadgets.
J2SE version 1.4 for Windows, Linux and Solaris can be downloaded free of charge at http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4/, Sun said.
