Java 8 Beta

[samuelj]

The IBM Java 8 Beta is now open. To access the files please go to this site https://ibm.biz/BdxPpH. Linux, zLinux, AIX as well as z/OS are all available. Please use the message board on the above link if you have queries.

Have fun testing your current apps against the latest version of Java to see if all is still proper and correct.

[DarrylBurke]

Moved from Advanced Java. Please keep advertisements to this section, and this section alone.

db

[samuelj]

Thank you Moderator, will do.

[samuelj]

Do you use Java on Linux on POWER or zLinux? If you do then we'd be very interested to hear your experiences with the Java 8 Beta. You can get the files from this link
https://ibm.biz/BdxPpH

[samuelj]

IBM changes in the 1st drop (beta 1) of the Java 8 beta

Removal of legacy and deprecated functionality
JRIO on z/OS
–Use JZOS record I/O instead
Annotation Processing Tool (apt) and com.sun APIs
–Use Pluggable Annotation Processing API instead (available since Java 6)


Limitations
Java plugin and Webstart unavailable
Kerberos security unavailable
Uninstallation leaves some files behind on Linux

Enhancements to JVM dump API
Specify dump filename at runtime:
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.javaDumpToFile(fileName)
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.heapDumpToFile(fileName)
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.systemDumpToFile(fileName)
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.snapDumpToFile(fileName)
Setting and querying of dump options at runtime:
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.setDumpOptions(options)
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.queryDumpOptions()
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.resetDumpOptions()
com/ibm/jvm/Dump.triggerDump(options)
New information available in javacore.txt files
Hypervisor information:
2CISYSINFO Hypervisor name = PowerVM
Supported hypervisors:
–KVM
–VMWare
–PowerVM
–Hyper-V
–z/VM
–PR/SM

Data Access Accelerator (DAA)
A new Java API for bare-bones data conversion and arithmetic
Operates directly on native data record (byte arrays)
–No Java object tree created
Orchestrated with JIT for deep platform optimization
Avoid expensive Java object instantiation by allowing in-place operations
Expose hardware acceleration in a platform and JVM-neutral manner
Can provide significant speedup to record parsing frameworks
Can provide significant speedup for data marshalling and inter-language communication
Adding two Packed Decimal numbers in Java
–No Packed Decimal type
–Convert to Big Decimal -> Expensive!

Current Approach:
byte[] addPacked(array a[], array b[]) {
BigDecimal a_bd = convertPackedToBd(a[]);
BigDecimal b_bd = convertPackedToBd(b[]);
a_bd.add(b_bd);
return (convertBDtoPacked(a_bd));

Proposed Solution:
byte[] addPacked(array a[], array b[]) {
DAA.addPacked(a[], b[]);
return (a[]);

On Z, there are hardware packed instructions – i.e. AP (Add Packed)!
Marshalling and Un-marshalling
Transform primitive type (short, int, long, float, double) <-> byte array
Support both big/little-endian byte arrays
Packed Decimal (PD) Operations
Arithmetic: +, -, *, /, % on 2 PD operands
Relation: >,<,>=,<=,==,!= on 2 PD operands
Error checking: checks if PD operand is well-formed
Other: shifting, and moving ops on PD operand
Decimal Data Type Conversions
Decimal ↔ Primitive: Convert Packed Decimal(PD), External Decimal(ED), Unicode Decimal(UD) <-> primitive types (int, long)
Decimal ↔ Decimal: Convert between different decimal types (PD, ED, UD)
Decimal ↔ Java: Convert decimal types (PD, ED, UD) <-> BigDecimal, BigInteger

[samuelj]

Testing scenarios you might want to consider for the 1st code drop of the Java 8 beta
Today 4:12 PM
§For early betas, concentrate on regression-testing existing applications
§Functionality
– Does the application behave as expected?
§Performance
– Does the application perform as expected?
§New functionality
–DAA is available in this code drop. For more information please see my post above.

[samuelj]

New Java 8 Beta code drop with packedObjects to access this new drop please use this link https://ibm.biz/BdxPpH

[samuelj]

I am pleased to announce the Beta 2 release of Java 8 is now available. In this release we have added Packed Object support and improved the JVM dump information, please see below for a summary on these.

Packed Object Support
Packed object support is provided as a technology preview. The Packed Object support feature is an enhancement to Java that allows greater control over the layout of objects in memory. This capability enables greater flexibility when dealing with non-Java memory structures, for example, when exchanging and using data between Java and other languages or environments. The feature also enables the optimization of some patterns of Java objects to reduce overall size and improve the access efficiency.
Improvements to JVM dump information
The ENVINFO section of a javadump includes information about the operating system hypervisor, if present. A new line also shows the ID of the operating system process that produced the javadump.
Oracle content

The SDK provided is functionally equivalent to the Oracle FCS version of Java 8 b73. This release of the SDK includes the following Oracle enhancements:

- DocTree API JEP 105
- Add Javadoc to javax.tools JEP 106
- Charset improvements JEP 112
- BCP 47 Locale Matching JEP 128
- Unicode 6.2 JEP 133
- Launch JavaFX Applications JEP 153 Note: JavaFX is not supported by the IBM SDK for Java. JavaFX is not part of Java 8 Standard Edition Specification, there are no plans to deliver JavaFX in IBM SDK V8.