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Best in Java

< em>JavaWorld</em> honors the top Java technologies

By Jennifer Wilson, JavaWorld.com, 06/06/01

The party has only just begun at this year's JavaOne, and to add to the festivities, last night JavaWorld celebrated those innovative technologies and tools that have influenced the Java platform. During the JavaWorld 2001 Editors' Choice Awards ceremony, held at the Ansel Adams Center in San Francisco, nine organizations and one author were honored for producing the best Java tools. All 30 finalists were also recognized at the ceremony for demonstrating the outstanding innovation currently emerging from the Java platform.



A tradition at JavaWorld since 1997, the Editors' Choice Awards (ECA) honors companies, organizations, and individuals for their efforts in driving Java forward. The event always begins with a selection process; this year, vendors, readers, and JavaWorld authors and editors nominated tools and technologies in the following 10 categories:

  • Best Java Virtual Machine
  • Best Java IDE
  • Best Java Performance Monitoring/Testing Tool
  • Best Java Class Library
  • Best Java Application Server
  • Best Java Device Application
  • Best Java-XML Technology
  • Best Java Book
  • Most Useful New or Revised Java API/Technology
  • Most Innovative Java Product


Any commercial, open source, or free Java-based technology shipped on or before March 31, 2001, could be nominated. Beta versions were not eligible.

A panel of nine judges, all of them JavaWorld authors, voted in several rounds to narrow the more than 100 nominations to three finalists in each category. The panel then went through yet another round of voting to choose the winners. In making their final decisions, the judges thoroughly evaluated the features and functions of each technology or tool and its influence on Java.

The several weeks of nominations and voting culminated last night at the Ansel Adams Center. JavaWorld columnist Frank Sommers, founder and CEO of AutoSpaces and an ECA judge, kicked off the event with an address on future Java-based technologies. Afterwards, JavaWorld editors presented the awards to each of the 10 winners. All winners and finalists received an Awards crystal acknowledging their accomplishment.

Without further ado ... the winners of the JavaWorld 2001 Editors' Choice Awards:

Best Java Virtual Machine: Java HotSpot Server VM 2.0, Solaris, Sun Microsystems

Sun Microsystems' Java HotSpot VM architecture combines a high-tech memory model, garbage collector, and adaptive optimizer with a sophisticated object-oriented style. Featuring a uniform object model, rapid thread synchronization, and system-specific runtime routines generated at VM startup time, the Java HotSpot VM was designed to deliver top performance and reliability.

"One should commend Sun for implementing VMs for many different platforms," notes Sommers. "The HotSpot engine provides very high performance and great stability."

Updated from version 1.0.1, Java HotSpot Server VM 2.0 features improvements in runtime and garbage collection, as well as enhancements to the Java HotSpot Client VM and Server VM optimizations. New runtime capabilities include enhanced fatal-error reporting, improved support for debugging and profiling, and a unified source base. Version 2.0's garbage collectors feature larger heaps, a better soft reference policy, and support for larger applications.

Resources
  • Java HotSpot Server VM 2.0, Solaris, Sun Microsystems
  • JBuilder 4 Enterprise, Borland Software
  • JUnit 3.5, JUnit.org
  • Java API for XML Processing (JAXP) 1.1, Sun Microsystems
  • The Collections Framework, Sun Microsystems
  • BEA WebLogic Server 6.0, BEA Systems
  • Thinking in Java, Second Edition,Bruce Eckel, Prentice Hall
  • Java Message Service API 1.0.2, Sun Microsystems
  • Java 2 Platform, Micro Edition, Wireless Toolkit 1.0.1, Sun Microsystems
  • Tomcat 3.2, the Jakarta Project
  • Other JavaWorld resources