[Chapter 1] 1.9 A Java Road Map

1.9 A Java Road Map

With everything that's going on, it's hard to keep track of what's available now, what's promised, and what has been around for some time. Here's a road map that tries to impose some order on Java's past, present, and future.

The Past: Java 1.0

Java 1.0 provided the basic framework for Java development: the language itself, plus packages that let you write applets and simple applications. Java 1.0 is officially obsolete, though it will be some time before vendors catch up with the new release.

The Present: Java 1.1

Java 1.1 is the current version of Java. It incorporates major improvements in the AWT package (Java's windowing facility). It also adds many completely new features, including:

JDBC

A general facility for interacting with databases.

RMI

Remote Method Invocation: a facility that lets you call methods that are provided by a server running somewhere else on the network.

JavaBeans

Java's component architecture, which we discussed earlier.

Security

A facility for cryptography; this is the basis for signed classes, which we discussed earlier.

Internationalization

The ability to write programs that adapt themselves to the language the user wants to use; the program automatically displays text in the appropriate language.

Java 1.1 incorporates many other improvements and new features, but these are the most important. As of May, 1997, most Web browsers haven't yet incorporated Java 1.1, but they will as soon as possible. In this book, we'll try to give you a taste of as many features as possible; unfortunately for us, the Java environment has become so rich that it's impossible to cover everything in a single book.

The Future

We've mentioned a few of the things that are in the pipeline, including high quality audio, advanced 3D rendering, and speech synthesis. Other things to look forward to are class libraries for advanced 2D graphics (Java 2D), electronic commerce (JECF), managing network devices (Java Management), naming and directory services (JNDI), telephony (JTAPI), and writing network servers (Java Server). Beta versions of some of these facilities are available now.

We're also starting to see new kinds of computing devices that incorporate Java. Network computers that are based on Java and use the HotJava browser as their user interface are already available, as are "smart cards": credit card-like devices with a Java processor built in. You can expect to see Java incorporated into PDAs, telephones, and many other devices.