The BellSoft Blog

Today we welcome JDK 16, the last version of the Java Development Kit before the stable, long-term support (LTS) release. Contrary to what some people would assume, it’s not a “placeholder” title. Version 16 is a standalone JDK and features 17 new capabilities — with native support for Alpine Linux integrated by BellSoft.

Starting with the January release, Liberica JDK now runs natively on Macs powered by the first processor of Apple’s design specifically for Macintosh computers, M1. This feature applies to both LTS’s (8, 11) and the current version. We are going to dive into this exciting topic and explore how support for Apple silicon is implemented in Liberica JDK.

Many would agree that 2020 was a challenging year for the global communities. We at BellSoft welcome the challenge; it’s our second nature! It turns out, last year was a big one for us. Compared to 2019, we almost doubled the number of users and more than tripled downloads. People are discovering new aspects of Liberica JDK, while our engineering team (which is 1.5 times bigger now) never stops adding new exciting features.

Liberica Native Image Kit (Liberica NIK) is a utility that converts your JVM-based application into a fully AOT compiled native executable under the closed-world assumption with an almost instant startup time. It is based on the open source GraalVM Community Edition. Being compatible with various platforms, including lightweight musl-based Alpine Linux, this technology optimizes resource consumption and minimizes the static footprint.

Welcome to the third part of developing a Liberica JDK-based application for real-time conversion of mathematical formulas from Markdown to HTML. In the previous part we developed a plain Markdown editor and preview panel; in this part we’ll walk through adding a TeX processor to the application.

JDK Flight Recorder (JFR) is a powerful diagnostic tool built into OpenJDK. In previous posts, I was focusing on using JFR together with JDK Mission Control, a visual front end. Besides out of box integration with JDK tools like Mission Control and `jcmd`, Flight Recorder has an API.

Liberica JDK now runs natively on M1-powered Apple products. This feature applies to both LTS's (8, 11) and the current Liberica JDK 15. Given that in July 2020 we added AArch64 support for LibericaFX to JDK 11, the most recent LTS version, it paved the way to include it for 64-bit ARM processors in Macs and Macbooks. Apple Silicon users will benefit from full-fledged JavaFX (including Graphics, Controls, Media, and Webkit modules) in all Full bundles to create complex and appealing visual interfaces.

In view of the upcoming Liberica JDK release, we want to lift the curtain just a bit and talk about what makes BellSoft images so small. You will learn the two main image reduction methods and get tools to minimize containers for your project.

Developers often choose Java for financial applications due to its reliability. Learn which programming languages for JVM will make your project succeed.

Welcome back to developing a Liberica JDK-based app for real-time conversion of mathematical formulas from Markdown to HTML. The second part of this series focuses on building a text editor that supports Markdown syntax and a preview pane to show the result.

The promising Kotlin language has made many developers jump for joy and even rekindled their interest in studying new ways in programming.