Oracle principal product manager Terrence Barr announced the release today of Java ME 8. Two years in the making, this release follows the release of Java SE 8 by just one month. It further aligns Java ME 8 APIs with those of Java SE 8, and further prepares Java for the Internet of Things and its challenges, especially relating to performance, portability and scale.
In the words of Terrence Barr, Java ME 8 "provides a layered and extensible platform architecture, which allows you to build customized software solutions quickly that cover a wide range of embedded use cases."
The release is covered by Java ME specifications JSR 360 - Java ME Connected Limited Device Configuration (CLDC) 8, providing the core JVM and runtime, and JSR 361 - Java ME Embedded Profile (MEEP) 8, which defines an advanced application platform. This release comes almost two years after the Java Community Process ME was merged with SE/EE into a single JCP Executive Committee, in accordance with the JCP 2.9 Process Document.
According to the announcement and documentation, the list of new features includes:
- Alignment with Java 8 for efficient development in three key areas, allowing portability of code between Java SE and Java ME:
- Java language features
- Core libraries and APIs
- Key virtual machine features
- Designed for Embedded - still small and efficient, compatible with previous versions, and designed for long running headless operation
- Highly portable and scalable
- Consistent across devices
- Advanced application platform including a "Multi-Application" model that allows isolated execution of multiple applications
- Modularized software services
- Multi-Client domains ("partitioning" - think multi-tenancy in the enterprise except for embedded)
- Direct access to hardware devices - "Device I/O API", providing Java applications with platform independent direct access to peripherals.
- Compatibility with standard APIs such as File I/O, Web Services, Wireless Messaging, and Security Services
- Enhanced embedded tooling and plugins for popular IDEs
Java champion Ben Evans told InfoQ
It's great to see Java ME getting a new release. There is so much work to be done in the IoT space - and anything which helps Java prepare for that is good news. We do, of course, need to do more - especially in the area of ultra-low bandwidth protocols. But this is a big step forward and very welcome news.
For a comprehensive overview of the release, refer to Oracle's Java ME 8 website.
To get started developing with Java ME 8, you can download Oracle's Java ME SDK 8, bundled with the Java ME 8 device emulation environment and documentation.