Expect the open-sourcing of the Java programming language to be done in incremental steps, with some pieces available by next June -- but not the entire platform, Robert Brewin, co-CTO of Sun Microsystems' software group, said Monday afternoon.

Interviewed in Palo Alto, Calif., Brewin cited the magnitude of the processes involved in offering Java via open source. "It's a huge body of code," Brewin said. Due diligence, such as making sure code is unencumbered, must be done, he said.

"I believe that we will have components of Java released into open source within the year," meaning by next June, Brewin said. "I think [release of] the whole thing will take a little bit longer," he said.

Creating a Formatter

The simplest way to get started with the Formatter class is to create a new instance of it.

The Standard Java Streams

Your operating system will typically define three standard streams that are accessible through members of the System class in Java:

• A standard input stream that usually corresponds to the keyboard by default. This is encapsulated by the in member of the System class, and is of type InputStream.
• A standard output stream that corresponds to output on the command line. This is encapsulated by the out member of the System class, and is of type PrintStream.
• A standard error output stream for error messages that usually maps to the command line output by default. This is encapsulated by the err member of the System class, and is also of type PrintStream.
  

The first BETA of Freespire Linux was released on Friday. Freespire is a no-cost version of the Linspire operating system based on Linux and Open Source.

This is the first BETA release of Freespire Beta1 (Build 0.0.69). The team suggest reading the FAQ and Release Notes before downloading or installing. This version is BETA software and is UNSUPPORTED. If you download this version you should not open support tickets. The Freespire team recommends that you only install this software on a test machine.