Correction Notice: This article includes corrections its original wording and title, which indicated the Eclipse Foundation to be a newly-joined member of the JCP. In fact, the Foundation has been a member of the JCP EC for the past six years, and continues to be a leader in the Java community. We apologize for any confusion caused by the article's original mis-wording.
Last week finalized elections for the open seats with the Java Community Process (JCP) Executive Committee (EC). Elected committee members will start their terms next week, and collectively guide the direction of the Java programming language for their elected terms of up to two years. Receiving the most votes this year for the elected positions is the Eclipse Foundation, which will hold its seat for a two year term within the voting body.
The Foundation received 221 votes for their acceptance to the committee, positioning it with a 14% acceptance rate, and making it the highest voted candidate for the open election seats. Eight candidates who received the most votes were elected to the EC, with the top four seated to a two year term, and the bottom four a single year term. The Foundation’s two year term means that the organization that has been popularized by its free and open-source Java IDE will now have a vote for JSRs and approval of Specifications for the programming language in the years to come.
Those also elected to the EC this year included Twitter, which was runner-up for the open seats with 13% of the vote, and Azul Systems, both of whom were previously elected in 2011. Azul Systems and its CTO, Gil Tene, were named JCP Member of the Year at this year’s JavaOne conference in San Francisco. The Member of the Year award recognizes the person or corporation who has had the greatest impact on the Java community over the last year. Azul Systems will be a seated member of the EC for a single year term after brining in 166 votes for 10% of the ballots.
This year, the JCP eliminated three ratified and two elected seats, reducing to 25 the total number of members within the EC. Oracle additionally holds a single permanent seat, while the remaining seats must be chosen through a voting process by the committee’s members. Of the 1088 eligible voters, just 24.77% casted a ballot. That participation rate is up from 2012, where a mere 23.70% of those eligible turned out for the vote.
This year also marks a milestone in the reformation of the JCP, which was covered by InfoQ after last year’s election. Prior to the 2012 election, the JCP was comprised of two executive committees, one for the Standard and Enterprise (SE/EE) editions of Java, and another for the language’s Micro Edition (ME). The two committees were made up of an available 15 seats, with 10 ratified and 5 elected. Voting members held office for three year terms, with the seats staggered so that 5 would be up for ratification/election each year. This year changes the term for which elected seats will be held, with top-voted members eligible for a two-year term, and bottom voted members eligible for only a single year.
A full account of the election results can be found on the JCP website. The JCP 2.9 Process Document describes the ongoing changes to the JCP and EC, and can also be found on their website.