RE: [eclipse-incubator-e4-dev] [resources] Java7 / JSR203 and EFS

[John Arthorne <John_Arthorne@xxxxxxxxxx>]

I can't help laughing about this...
back when we were on Java 1.3 we hestitated about adding additional native
support in resources because this new file system API was planned for 1.4
in JSR 51, and we didn't want to duplicate APIs that would soon be in the
JRE.  The file system API portion was then split from java.nio into
its own JSR (203). When I started working on EFS there were some suggestions
that I should hold off because JSR 203 was targetting Java 5 and we could
just wait for that. As Java 5 approached it became clear this wasn't going
to make it so it was pushed to Java 7. As we see, it is still not included
in Java 7, and the Java 7 release date is unclear.  Since we've waited
8+ years already (JSR 51 was proposed in January 2000), a couple more years
doesn't bother me too much ;)

Having said that, I think you have the
right idea here. Having our own EFS API allows us to be somewhat insulated
from underlying technology changes. If/when we ever target Java 7 we can
have an optional bundle that provides an EFS implementation on java.nio.file.
Thus users running on Java 7 will get whatever advantages come with it,
and we remaining compatible with Java 5 at the same time. The reason it's
useful to look at this now is to ensure we don't evolve EFS in a way that
is fundamentally at odds with java.nio.file, that would prevent us adopting
it when the time comes.

John

Martin wrote on 10/16/2008 10:56:13 AM:

> PS if you're interested in when Java7 is likely going to be officially
> available, here is what Alex Miller [1] (who I believe is pretty deep
in
> Java7) thinks:
> 
> The official word is summer/fall 2009 but I don't believe that.  I
> think end of '09 is an optimistic target and mid '10 is probably 
> realistic.  But maybe I'm wrong.  The major and likely chunks
to be 
> included are pretty far along so if they got real serious, who knows.
> 
> The bulk of the attention right now seems to be going to Java 6u10
> and JavaFX which are both nearing release.  I suspect once those
are
> out the door, Java 7 will start getting some love.  Unless something
> else tickles Sun's fancy.
> 
> So, thinking about mid 2010 as a realistic target would be quite interesting
> for e4 given that June 2010 is likely our planned FCS date too...
>  
> [1] http://tech.puredanger.com/java7
>  
> Cheers,
> --
> Martin Oberhuber, Senior Member of Technical
Staff, Wind River
> Target Management Project Lead, DSDP PMC Member
> http://www.eclipse.org/dsdp/tm
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