OpenJDK 11 Now The Default Java For Ubuntu 18.04 LTS - Plus Some New OpenJDK Benchmarks

[phoronix]

Phoronix: OpenJDK 11 Now The Default Java For Ubuntu 18.04 LTS - Plus Some New OpenJDK Benchmarks

Canonical has shifted the default Java of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS from OpenJDK 10 to OpenJDK 11. Plus here are some fresh OpenJDK 8/11/12 benchmarks on this Ubuntu Long Term Support release...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=OpenJDK-11-Ubuntu-18.04

[kpedersen]

Had a look through the source code just for fun and... wow, if these large corporations lose interest in Java, it is absolutely dead in the water. Just the i.e GC or network modules alone are larger than all the code myself or my company has ever written! We are talking hundreds of thousands of lines just for two very minor components on a very small subset of platforms (x86, ARM).

Don't get me wrong, no issues with Java; but can things not be a bit simpler? It would hurt me but I could write a C compiler in a year or so. People more skilled than me could probably write one in a week. But this monstrosity of a VM alone (let alone the compiler / optimiser) is surely not maintainable!

It just makes me worry that any software I write now in Java, will probably not run in the future JDK in 20 years time. There is absolutely zero chance I can maintain JDK 11 on my own so this code will effectively need a rewrite. Thats fine (I will be paid) but it pretty much kills any chance of digital preservation. Imagine if Doom was written in Java back in the day (and if you read one of Carmak's .plan files, that was considered); would it have been as popular today? Doubt it. It might not even be runnable! :/

[cl333r]

It would hurt me but I could write a C compiler in a year or so. People more skilled than me could probably write one in a week.

You lost me there.

[caligula]

but can things not be a bit simpler? ... But this monstrosity of a VM alone (let alone the compiler / optimiser) is surely not maintainable!

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you checked the internals of a modern JS engine? I'd say Java (you can jlink only necessary parts) is even lighter than a typical electron app that contains the full 100 MB webkit in its container.

[Kjell]

I would absolutely love to see OpenJDK 12 benchmarked against Oracle Java 12

[kpedersen]

You lost me there.

This guys first attempt was 40 days. He mentions that he would use yacc or flex if he was to do it again saving quite a bit of time.
https://www.sigbus.info/how-i-wrote-...n-40-days.html

And Bellard's OTCC (to win an obfuscated C competition) shows that someone with his skill and knowledge likely could get a functional one going.

This one (written in python) was a couple of weeks: https://github.com/ShivamSarodia/ShivC

Sure, they might not be professional quality or you and I may not be skilled enough to do it but what exactly do you think would be a problem?

Unlike a JVM, it is a much smaller task. That is pretty much exactly my point. Getting one of these up to a professional capacity would likely still be a trivial task compared to porting the JVM to a different architecture. And that is not good :/

Just out of curiosity, when was the last time you checked the internals of a modern JS engine?

Ugh, I know. It is a tad scary. Luckily I can avoid Javascript; however I do depend on Java for a couple of projects and I am starting to get cold feet on the whole ecosystem if it is so... expansive!

The added Jit in Node.js adds overhead ontop compared to i.e Duktape or Lua. And I am sure it provides a few more bells and whilstles compared to (the tiny in comparison) LuaJIT, but surely it must be an absolute bi*ch to maintain. Luckily Node.js has quite a big company behind it for now. What about in the future though?

As far as I recall, gcj is dead but I wonder if that would have been a more elegant and maintainable route in the long run. GCC isn't small but it also achieves a lot more than simply a VM and bytecode compiler.

[cen1]

Complex systems require a lot of code.. news at 11..

[Veerappan]

I would absolutely love to see OpenJDK 12 benchmarked against Oracle Java 12

I'd rather stick to the LTS versions, but that's because the day job does java-based enterprise web-app software (on JBoss/EAP). The recent Oracle Java SE licensing changes for JDK8+ has us seriously investigating switching over to the RedHat-supported OpenJDK releases, and OpenJDK in general.

[Apokalypz]

Dude, WTF is up with their recent licensing change for Oracle and Open JDKs for 11??? How are they mixing a commercial license with the GPLv2? I thought the later forbids the former. Unless they keep 2 separate build trees, one commercial licensed blob and one GPLv2. Supposedly OpenJDK and Oracle JDK will be feature identical going forward. It never ceases to amaze me how many issues revolve around a simple software language/bytecode runtime.

[randomizer]

How are they mixing a commercial license with the GPLv2? I thought the later forbids the former.

The GPL forbids the code from being sublicensed. It doesn't (and can't) forbid relicensing or dual licensing by the copyright holder (Oracle). The copyright holder can do whatever they want with their code, but not copies of the code already licensed under the GPL. Sometimes GPL projects get turned into proprietary projects, but all copies of the code in the wild up to that point remain under the GPL.