Java ME 8 enters the JCP

Two new JSRs for Java ME 8 map out how the platform will converge with Java SE 8 and how it will support the next generation of small, smart, embedded and connected devices. The two new JSRs have appeared in the Java Community Process recently, according to a post by Terence Barr, Product Manager for Mobile and Embedded Technologies at Oracle, and are JSR360, "Connected Limited Device Configuration 8" (CLDC 8), and JSR361, "Java ME Embedded Profile" (ME EP).

JSR360's CLDC 8 is designed to update the core Java virtual machine, language support and libraries with the objective of aligning it more with Java SE 8. This will bring with it support for Generics, Assertions, Annotations, Try-with-Resources, Collections and a subset of NIO and Logging APIs, whilst also updating the VM to the JVM language specification version 2. The updates will be joined by the Generic Connection Framework, newly-consolidated and enhanced for multi-protocol I/O.

JSR361, ME EP, is based on JSR228, the Information Module Profile which described a headless variant of the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) 2.0 for J2ME embedded network devices. Combining that base with CLDC 8, ME EP sets out to deliver a new lightweight component and services model, shared libraries, cross-application concurrency, communications and events, and application management. It will also set out to make many APIs optional for very restricted environments.

Barr says that the JSRs are still under development, but that this phase of convergence of Java SE 8 and Java ME 8 and the appearance of a JSR for the next generation of embedded connected devices makes it "clear that there are exciting new times ahead for Java ME".

(djwm)