JCP EC F2F Seattle 2024

This week the Java Community Process Executive Committee had the second face-to-face meeting of 2024. This time we met in Seattle, WA hosted by Amazon.

It was a full-day meeting with a lot of topics on the agenda. The minutes will, as always, be made publicly available on the JCP EC web page. We had external speakers presenting cool stuff, such as Project Babylon, Java 23 support in IntelliJ IDEA, and Eclipse Collections. Other topics we talked about were Java in Education and how to help the Java ecosystem to increase the adoption of newer Java features. We also discussed how we can help change the perception that “Java is old“. A lot of good ideas came up, and hopefully we will see them pop up as initiatives going forward.

The day before the meeting, some of us met with a representative from the University of Washington to gain insight of how we can assist with Java in Education system. We also had a JCP-themed JUG Meetup with the Seattle Java User Group.

Before the meeting, the JCP Runners went for a morning run in Seattle led by Volker. It is a refreshing start of the day and the best way to get prepared for a full day in the meeting room.

Every year there is an election in the Executive Committee where half of the seats are up for elections. Those elected serve a two-year term. This year, Eclipse Foundation is running in the elections to keep our elected seat in the committee. Please vote for us if you are a believer of Open Source. We are the only non-for-profit Open Source Foundation among the candidates. A vote for Eclipse Foundation is a vote for Open Source.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #250

Welcome to issue number two hundred and fifty of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

Last week I was in Denver for Community Over Code 2024. Since it was the same time as Devoxx Belgium, I missed out on the yearly gathering in Antwerp this year. Next year, I hope that I will be able to combine both.

Next week, I will be in Seattle for a face-to-face meeting of the Java Community Process Executive Committee. The EC meets in person twice a year at different locations, and this time the meeting will be hosted by Amazon in Seattle.

The two-year term in the Executive Committee is about to end, and the Eclipse Foundation is nominated for an elected seat for the next two years. If you are a JCP Member, I encourage you to use your right to vote. Of course, I hope you will vote for the Eclipse Foundation.

The refactoring of the Jakarta EE TCK continues. It looks like we will be able to release Jakarta EE 11 Core Profile pretty soon with Open Liberty as a ratifying implementation. For the Platform and Web Profile, we will have to wait a little longer. It still looks like it will be possible to release in time for JakartaOne Livestream on December 3, 2024.

Talking about upcoming conferences, Open Community for Java is only a little more than a week away. It is still possible to secure a ticket and be present in Mainz, October 22-24. I will be there, and so should you!

Community Over Code 2024

This was my second time speaking at Community Over Code – The ASF Conference. It is a very community oriented conference that is centered around the Apache Software Foundation’s portfolio of projects. The conference moves around from city to city, and this time the location was Denver, Colorado.

It was my first visit to Denver, and I really enjoyed walking around in the city. It has a pleasant relaxed vibe with lots of options for lunch and dinner. It will be interesting to see if my five days at 1600m altitude will have any effect when I go for a run when I get home at sea level.

I had three talks at the conference this year. The first one Jakarta EE meets AI with the subtitle Integrating AI in Your Enterprise Java Applications is very demo centric and fun to do. It wasn’t directly related to an ASF projects, so it was sort of the odd duck on the program.

My second talk was more tailored to the audience with the title Jakarta EE – As Seen Through the Lens of the ASF. I thought I was being clever when I switched the color of the specifications from Jakarta EE Blue (hex 1B208B) to ASF Red (hex D22128) as I went through them, but discovered toward the end of the talk that it looked a little too much like a map of an upcoming election… In my third talk I switched to using ASF Feather Purple (hex 662F8F).

My third talk was Why I Choose Apache NetBeans for Jakarta EE. In this talk I demoed the amazing tooling that NetBeans offer for Jakarta EE. I even learned about some new ones while researching the talk. The Jeddict AI Assistant is pretty awesome and may be a reason alone to switch to NetBeans. Rather than charging a monthly subscription as most of the other AI assistants do, you just supply your OpenAI API key in the settings. Which means that you only pay for what you actually use.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #249

Welcome to issue number two hundred and forty-nine of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

At the beginning of this week, on October 1st, I celebrated my 5-year anniversary at Eclipse Foundation. It’s been quite a ride and I am looking forward to the next five years, and more. The week was spent in Marrakech where I spoke at Devoxx Morocco for the seventh time. Right now, I am in Denver for The ASFs Community Over Code. I have three talks on the agenda, all with variations around Jakarta EE including AI, tooling, and how much the ASF projects contributes to the Jakarta EE ecosystem with implementations or work on specifications.

In about two weeks, it is time for Open Community for Java in Mainz, Germany. If you haven’t registered yet, do so now to get the best price. In addition to speaking, I will also facilitate a coding lounge, help out at our booths, and be part of the team making sure the speakers have all they need for their talks.

Devoxx Morocco 2024

Including JMaghreb 3.0 in 2014, this was my seventh time speaking at Devoxx Morocco. Four times in Casablanca, twice in Agadir, and this year in Marrakech. This conference has such a great vibe no matter which location they choose to run it. The community is amazing and very engaged by asking lots of questions in the talks and in the hallway between talks.

The venue in Marrakech was great with properly adjusted air-conditioning, a nice pool area, and an excellent buffet lunch restaurant. Before the second day, a group of eager morning runners met for a 5K run before breakfast.

My talk this year was A Journey of Contribution and Collaboration in Open Source. This is a non-technical, inspirational talk for getting more developers to get involved in Open Source. It is a pleasant talk to do and it is pretty timeless, so I will continue submitting it to conferences as long as there is interest in the subject.

Celebrating 5 Years at Eclipse Foundation

I joined the Eclipse Foundation five years ago as the Jakarta EE Developer Advocate. Time flies when you’re having a good time, and I certainly enjoy what I do. Being able to serve the community in the company of great colleagues certainly is a very good place to be.

During the five years, I have traveled nearly half a million miles *) around the world to engage with the community and speak at conferences and Java User Group events.
*) If it hadn’t been for the pandemic, this number would most likely have been a lot higher.

In addition to speaking at conferences and events, I have also produced nearly 500 blog posts during these five years. You can read them all here or on the Eclipse Foundation blog aggregator. I have also authored numerous articles and videos as well as a Jakarta EE Overview course on LinkedIn Learning. Another thing I did as soon as I joined Eclipse Foundation was to establish the weekly Jakarta EE Platform call. Since then I have meticulously been publishing the meeting minutes on the Jakarta EE Platform project’s web page. Check out the entire list.

The first event I spoke at after joining Eclipse Foundation in 2019 was EclipseCon Europe. The conference became EclipseCon after that, and this year it is rebranded to Open Community Experience where I will be speaking as well as helping out with the logistics for the co-located event Open Community for Java. I hope to see as many of you there as possible. The reduced price is still available until October 7, so go ahead an register now if you haven’t done so already.

Hashtag Jakarta EE #248

Welcome to issue number two hundred and forty-eight of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

I have had a little more than a week at home now (8 days to be exact). The next time I will have this many days in my own bed will be in December. I have speaking engagements planned for every week in October and November. Most of them are in Europe, but I will also go to North America a couple of times, as well as Africa and Asia. See the complete list here.

The Jakarta EE Core Profile TCK is significantly smaller than the Platform and Web Profile, and all parts of it are already refactored. As soon as there is an implementation that passes the TCK and files a certification request, the Jakarta EE Platform project will initiate the release process with this implementation as the ratifying one. Currently, it looks like both Open Liberty and WildFly will be able to do this shortly.

Check out the Project Board for the refactoring of the Jakarta EE Platform TCK for details. And sign up for an issue if you’re able to help out.

The JCP Newsletter is back after 15 years. Check out the September edition to stay up-to-date with what’s going on in the Java Community Process. This month’s newsletter also contains links to information about the upcoming elections for the JCP Executive Committee.

If you haven’t registered for Open Community for Java yet, click here to do it right away. The early bird has been extended to October 7, but don’t wait until the last minute. Secure your spot today!

Hashtag Jakarta EE #247

Welcome to issue number two hundred and forty-seven of Hashtag Jakarta EE!

A lot of CFPs for conferences are closing around these days, so make sure you submit to have a chance to speak at these events. Here are a couple of them that come to mind: JavaLand – September 25, JakartaOne Livestream – September 25, Jfokus – September 30, GIDS – September 30, JavaOne – October 10. Also, check out https://javaconferences.org/ for a more exhaustive list.

If you’re not prone to speaking, you can of course attend a conference, or more. One that I would recommend you to check out is Open Community for Java in Mainz, Germany from October 22 to October 24. I will be speaking there!

The refactoring efforts of the Jakarta EE Platform TCK are moving along. There is not a final date yet, but it looks like sometime in the mid-to-end of November is realistic. There could potentially be a big release party at JakartaOne Livestream.

A DRAFT of the plan for Jakarta EE 12 is in the works. The plan is to aim for a release of Jakarta EE 12 in the first half of 2026. Worth noticing is that implementations of Jakarta EE 12 must be certified on either Java 21 or Java 25, or both. Targeting two Java versions like this is consistent with the way it has been done since Jakarta EE 9.

BED-Con 2024

This was my first time at Berlin Expert Days. This conference is organized by the community for the community over two days. The venue is pretty cool with a modern exterior and slightly older interior and well sized for the conference. The first dad had four parallel tracks, while the second had two.

I presented A Journey of Contribution and Collaboration in Open Source in the afternoon on the first day. Since the presentation does not have any demos to lean back on, it is kind of a different experience for me. The audience were engaged, and we had some good questions and discussions after the talk.






If you ever visit Berlin, you should make sure to go for a run, or a walk if that is your cup of tea, in Tiergarten. I went for a morning run before the conference both days. The second day I ended up running 11 km. The weather sunny and the temperature perfect for running.

Jalapeño 2024

It was finally time for the first edition of Jalapeño. It was initially planned to be in 2020, but because of the pandemic, it was delayed until this year. But it was absolutely worth the wait! Located in a beach resort in Puerto Vallarta on the Mexican Pacific, the participants could bring their family and spend some nice days on the beach in combination with attending the unconference.

Jalapeño is an unconference, so you never know exactly which topics that will be discussed. But, as always, whatever topic chosen is the right one. Compared to for example JCrete, where the topics tend to be very technical, the topics of this edition of Jalapeño were more community oriented. Such as challenges around organizing a JUG (Java User Group), how to get involved in Open Source, and so on. Of course, there were technical discussions as well even if the non-technical topics dominated.

All in all, Jalapeño 2024 was absolutely worth the trip, and I would absolutely go back next time it is organized!