Java News from Tuesday, July 6, 2004

GCC logoThe Gnu Project has released version 3.4.1 of GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection. GCC contains frontends for C, C++, Objective C, Chill, Fortran, Ada, and Java as well as libraries for these languages. GCC is a clean room implementation of Java that doesn't use any Sun code, so it doesn't always exactly match Sun release versions, but this is roughly at the Java 1.4 level with some omissions. 3.4.1 is a bug fix release.


Sun has posted the first public review draft (version 0.9) of Java Specification Request (JSR) 211, Content Handler API, to the Java Community Process (JCP). This has nothing to do with the moribund java.net.ContentHandler class. Instead,

This specification describes the Content Handler API (CHAPI) and its associated execution model. CHAPI is an optional package for the J2ME™ platform. This API and model let an application invoke registered J2ME and non-Java applications for content by URL, by content type, or by content handler application id. Content is identified by a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) and dispatched using the content type or content handler id. Arguments may be passed to a content handler and the content handler can return results and a status. A content handler is any application that registers itself to handle some content. Integration into the application management system gives the user a seamless and natural transition between applications and content handlers.

The Content Handler API and model are designed to work with the Mobile Information Device Profile (MIDP) and the Personal Basis Profile (PBP).


Steve Roy has released MRJ Adapter 1.0.7, an open source library that implements a unified API for developers to access Mac specific functionality built into the various versions of the Macintosh Runtime for Java (MRJ). MRJ Adapter enables developers to add Mac specific functionality to their applications without compromising the cross-platform nature of their application. MRJ Adapter also "incorporates many little tricks known only to seasoned Mac Java programmers, such as how to bring up a file dialog to pick a folder, or how to set up a menu bar when no frame is opened, which is a normal state for a Mac application that isn't natively supported by Java." Version 1.0.7 is mostly a bug fix release but does add the ability to read resource forks. . MRJ Adapter is published under the LGPL.