As Open Source begins working its way into the field of vision of most developers, it’s only natural that open open source projects spring up in almost every programming language imaginable. One language getting quite a bit of attention in the open source world is Java. This might come as a surprise to those who know that Java’s originator, Sun Microsystems, has been a firm holdout on open sourcing many of its products. Sun licensed its own Java compiler and runtime under a “Community Source License” that drew fire from the open source community for not being Open Source compliant. There are actually some practical reasons, however, why developers are turning to Java for their open source projects and are reaping the benefits. This article provides a roadmap to major open source projects that involve Java and the different flavors of Java designed by its originator, Sun Microsystems.
J2-Which-E?
The primary reason developers have turned to Java, of course, is its cross-platform nature, which eliminates the need to spend time and energy on porting issues. To help developers find the right mix of services and language extensions, Sun has recently split the Java platform into three distinct flavors: Java 2 Standard Edition (J2SE) for traditional desktop applications, Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) for server/enterprise, and Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) for embedded/consumer electronics.
The result of this change, at first, was…
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