Santa Clara, CA and Yokohama, Japan — (press release excerpt) — Sun Microsystems today announced that the Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition (J2ME) Personal Profile specification has been approved by the Java Community Process (JCP) and will subsequently be made available to the Java community at the second annual JavaOne Japan Developer Conference. The profile (JSR 62) was approved by the JCP J2ME Executive Committee, including: Ericcson, IBM, Insignia, Philips, RIM, Texas Instruments, and Zucotto.

The J2ME Personal Profile is a J2ME Connected Device Configuration (CDC)-based technology providing the J2ME environment for devices with a need for a high degree of Internet connectivity and web fidelity. The CDC HI (Connected Device Configuration, HotSpot Implementation) is an implementation of the CDC that includes a highly optimized, tuned, and configurable dynamic compiler to significantly raise the bar of Java performance for client devices.

Personal Profile is designed for sophisticated networked consumer electronics such as high-end PDAs (Sharp Zaurus), smart communicators (PDA/cell phone combinations), TV set-top boxes, game consoles, and automobile dashboard electronics. Personal Profile includes an implementation of CDC and Foundation Profile (FP). A recently released version of CDC/FP includes a dynamic compiler, and can be combined with Personal Profile to deliver high performance Java Virtual Machine (JVM) performance to consumer devices.

“The diversity of client devices that are being attached to the network is explosive,” said Juan Dewar, director, Strategic Solutions and Devices, Sun Microsystems. “J2ME Personal Profile provides a pathway for migration through a high degree of compatibility with the legacy PersonalJava platform. We have released the reference implementation of Personal Profile, and are preparing to release a high performance version based on CDC HI for Linux running on a StrongARM processor. Developers can now completely realize client device potential by building Java applications and applets that deliver a significant increase in computational performance, a small footprint and quicker application start-up.”

Unlike the MIDP profile, which was designed for smaller devices with small LCD screens and limited input entry methods (such as a cell phones with simple keypads), the J2ME Personal Profile is fully compliant with the Java 2 VM specification. This allows developers to leverage their existing knowledge of the Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) to write programs for smaller devices. Additionally, as a J2ME CDC-based profile the J2ME Personal Profile contains advanced Java 2 technology features such as reflection and security, on-board bytecode verification, a Java Native Interface (JNI), and an Abstract Windowing Toolkit (AWT).

Java developers can now download the J2ME Personal Profile specification here. The reference implementation (RI) and the Technology Compatibility Kit (TCK) are available from Java Partner Engineering, here.

 
This article was originally published on LinuxDevices.com and has been donated to the open source community by QuinStreet Inc. Please visit LinuxToday.com for up-to-date news and articles about Linux and open source.