Sun refreshes development tools line

Refreshing its development tools arsenal, Sun Microsystems on Tuesday revealed plans for upcoming versions of Java Studio Creator and is unleashing upgrades to the NetBeans open source platform and Java Studio Enterprise.

Java Studio Creator is positioned as Sun’s easy-to-use visual tool for building departmental applications. An upgrade planned for next spring, code-named “Thresher,” will add support for “market-leading” application servers, according to Dan Roberts, group manager for developer tools marketing at Sun. Presumably, that would mean BEA Systems WebLogic Server and IBM WebSphere. Java Studio Creator now includes the Java System Application Server from Sun.

Thresher also is to feature “significant” usability enhancements and the ability to add JavaServer Faces components to the user interface, Roberts said. The upgrade also will feature published APIs for additional plug-in modules and features from the NetBeans 4.0 open source platform, which was announced on Tuesday. Version 4.0 highlights include J2SE 5.0 language features, Apache Ant backing, a Java technology performance profiler, refactoring capabilities, and additional mobile development support.

Prior to Thresher, Sun later this month will release an update to Java Studio Creator that features a preview version of a capability to consume EJB used in corporate applications. Sun in adding the ability to access EJB is not changing the target audience of Java Studio Creator, Roberts said. Adding this capability enables users to interoperate with back-end services built by enterprise developers, he stressed.

“To get to that business logic and play within their enterprise, even a corporate developer has to be able to interoperate there,” said Roberts, differentiating between corporate and higher-level enterprise developers.

“This is a large release for us, with a whole host of updates [and] minor usability enhancements,” Roberts said.

With NetBeans 4.0, Sun is stressing the maturity of its open source IDE. “NetBeans is the foundation technology and platform for all of our Sun tools line. It’s a well-tested, mature technology that we’ve been using for many years,” Roberts said.

Downloadable on Wednesday at www.netbeans.org/community/releases/40/, NetBeans 4.0 features support for metadata, autoboxing, and generics.

“Out of the box, you have a complete development environment,” with no need for plugging in various other components, said Roberts. Version 4.0 is based on Apache Ant, the “de facto standard for build systems,” he said.

“By integrating our project system entirely with Ant, it makes it much easier for developers to integrate their system and team environments,” said Roberts.

Code refactoring in Version 4.0 is based on Project Jackpot, which provides a deeper understanding of what is going on in an application. “It identifies issues for you around contextual problems as you’re moving things” in the development process, Roberts said.

MIDP2 (Mobile Information Device Profile) support is featured for mobile development of applications for cell phones and PDAs.

Sun next spring plans to release NetBeans 4.1, featuring support for EJB and Web services development. Also planned is a profiler for gauging memory consumption. NetBeans 4.1 technologies are available in an early access program now.