Session summary: update on the real-time specification for java

Ben summarized the background and current status of the Real-Time Java efforts, focusing mainly on the Sunsanctioned RTSJ but also briefly mentioning the JConsortium's "Core Extensions". The RTSJ (V1.0) was officially approved last November (although, interestingly enough, Sun Microsystems' vote was an abstention) with the delivery of the specification (an API), a Reference Implementation, and a Test Compatibility Kit. The latter two items were produced by TimeSys. The spec is currently in maintenance mode, with a V1.1 release planned for Fall 2002; this release is intended to correct errors, resolve ambiguities, and fill in missing details. The Core Extensions document, an alternative approach to real-time Java, proposes a Javalike RTOS with similar functionality to the RTSJ. Jim Moore noted that a J-Consortium Working Group has also produced the JEFF spec, an alternative classfile format that supports storing classes in static memory versus dynamically loading them. There is a possibility that the RTSJ and Core Extensions specs may be merged, but Ben noted that there were licensing issues that would first need to be addressed, and that in the absence of external funding the technical work would probably require around two years to complete.