Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Introducing JavaFX: Sun's new family of Java-based products

JavaFX Mobile is a complete mobile operating and application environment built around Java and Linux. JavaFX Script is a highly productive scripting language for content developers to create rich media and content for deployment on Java technology. JavaFX Script is the core of the JavaFX family, and it's the most interesting part of the product set. (Sun thinks that developers will shorten JavaFX Script to JavaFX in conversations, as long as JavaFX Script is the core in the JavaFX product family.)
JavaFX Script is intended to simplify the creation of rich UIs for Java clients. JavaFX Script is implemented in Java, and it uses Java APIs for 2D and 3D graphics as well as UI controls. JavaFX Script supports a declarative syntax for UI definition that is somewhat similar to the ones used by Microsoft in XAML and Adobe in MXML, yet it's not XML-based. In fact, it's a real programming language -- not just a markup tool -- so you can write an entire application in JavaFX Script.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Automated RBAC Java Security Tool Released

McLean, Va.-based Advanced Modeling Concepts recently released a Java security tool designed to help developers add security to existing Java applications. The product adds role-based access control (RBAC) security via a tool called AfterthoughtSoft-Secure.
Organizations can use the product to inject Java authentication and authorization (JAAS) security into legacy code. It can work with any Java applications that use the JAR (Java Archive) file format. The solution is designed mostly to work with client-side applications, according to company literature.

The product identifies what needs to be secured in the runnable JAR file and creates a copy of the file with the RBAC security inserted, according to the company.
"One of the hardest parts of dealing with JAAS implementations is getting the security policy files done correctly," commented Advanced Modeling Concepts' CEO Bart Jenkins in a prepared statement. "The tool automatically generates all the necessary .java.policy and .java.login.config files for you."
Advanced Modeling Concepts has released three versions of AfterthoughtSoft-Secure: Community, Pro and Enterprise.
The free community edition covers only "text file-based RBAC." The Pro edition adds NT, Unix and Linux security. The Enterprise Edition offers LDAP and Kerberos V support. Introductory pricing through February for the Pro and Enterprise editions is $29 and $99, respectively.

Europe invests in real-time Java for multicore systems

LONDON — The Open Group is working with a consortium of European real-time technology developers, industrial manufacturers and research organizations to develop a new framework for Java-based real-time applications on modern parallel processor systems.
Supported by the European Commission, the Java Environment for Parallel Real-time Development (JEOPARD) project is investing over €3.3 million (about $ 4.9 million) an advanced framework for real-time Java running on multicore and parallel systems.
This platform-independent framework will maintain the robust reliability essential for safety and mission critical applications, while using the additional processing power available from the latest parallel platforms.
Led by The Open Group (Reading, England), the JEOPARD consortium includes four universities and research institutes: University of York (England), Vienna University of Technology (Austria), FZI (Research Center for Information Technologies at the University of Karlsruhe, Germany) and the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania); three industrial manufacturers: EADS NV (Schiphol-Rijk, Netherlands), RadioLabs (Rome, Italy) and SkySoft (Lisbon, Portugal); and two embedded systems technology suppliers: Aicas (Karlsruhe, Germany) and Sysgo (Klein-Winternheim, Germany).
The strategic objective of the JEOPARD project is to provide the tools for platform-independent development of predictable systems that make use of symmetric multiprocessing (SMP) multicore platforms. These tools will enhance software productivity and reusability by extending processor technology already established on desktop systems for the specific needs of multicore embedded systems. The project will actively contribute to standards required for the development of portable software in this domain, such as the Real-time Specification for Java (RTSJ).