Significant advances in microservices written in Java, as well as tighter coupling between Java applications and containers, are set to transform the way most organizations build and deploy Java applications by the end of the year.
IBM Java CTO John Duimovich, as part of five Java predictions for 2018, noted that The Eclipse Foundation has taken over the development of MicroProfiles, a baseline platform definition that optimizes Enterprise Java for a microservices architectures, and the EE4J project, an effort to create standard application programming interfaces (API) for Java runtime. This, he said, will make it much easier to build next-generation Java applications using programming tools based on the Eclipse integrated development environment (IDE).
In some instances, those applications will take the form of a microservice that gets deployed using a Java runtime. In other instances, those applications will be deployed using containers such as Docker. Duimovich said it’s not only a matter of time before containers and runtimes including Java will become more tightly coupled. That will result in more consistent memory management and easier wiring between Java constructs and containers. For example, Java applications will be able to determine automatically how much memory is available to any given container. That’s critical because the reason most containers fail is they exceed available memory limits, he said.
Duimovich also predicted that Kotlin will be the next big variant of Java to be adopted in the enterprise. Concise coding syntax plus interoperability with other instances of Java have already made it popular for many developers. Now that Kotlin can be used to build applications for devices running Android, this year will see much broader usage of Kotlin to build greenfield applications, Duimovich said. However, he added, it won’t be too long before other variants of Java start employing similar concepts.
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Other major Java predictions for 2018, Duimovich noted, will be optimization of Java runtimes for serverless computing frameworks and a more regular six-month release cycle for incorporating new functions in Java. The rise of serverless computing frameworks will also result in more Java applications being deployed on public and private cloud services, he said.
Duimovich noted that, from a practical perspective, a Java runtime is simply another type of container. The challenge facing DevOps teams will be determining when and where to use Docker containers instead of traditional Java runtime to deliver an application. Whatever the outcome, it’s unlikely any IT organization will standardize on one approach to the exclusion of all others.
The increased rate of Java innovation can be attributed to an Oracle decision made last fall to place Java Enterprise Edition under the auspices of the Eclipse Foundation, said Duimovich. At the same time, IBM moved to open-source its implementation of a Java virtual machine. This has resulted in something of a Java Renaissance, as more developers and organizations are contributing expertise via the Eclipse Foundation.
There’s no shortage of programming language options available these days. But in many cases, if Java is able to build modern applications, then it’s probable many developers will continue to use Java rather than take the time to learn something new.
— Mike Vizard