Excelsior JET
Excelsior JET is a now-defunct proprietary Java SE technology implementation built around an ahead-of-time (AOT) Java to native code compiler. The compiler transforms the portable Java bytecode into optimized executables for the desired hardware and operating system (OS). Also included are a Java runtime featuring a just-in-time (JIT) compiler for handling classes that were not precompiled for whatever reason (e.g. third-party plugins or dynamic proxies), the complete Java SE API implementation licensed[1] from Oracle, and a toolkit to aid deployment of the optimized applications. Excelsior JET is developed by Excelsior LLC, headquartered in Novosibirsk, Russia.
Developer(s) | Excelsior LLC |
---|---|
Initial release | 2000 |
Final release | 15.3
/ November 22, 2018 |
Written in | Modula-2, Oberon-2, Java, Scala, C++, Assembly |
Operating system | Windows, macOS, and Linux |
Platform | IA-32, AMD64 and ARM |
Type | Ahead-of-time (AOT) native code compiler, runtime, and deployment toolkit for Java applications |
License | EULA |
Website | www |
Overview
Excelsior JET has passed the "official" test suite (TCK) for Java SE 8, and is certified Java Compatible on macOS and a number of Windows and Linux flavors running on Intel x86, AMD64/Intel 64 and compatible hardware. (The macOS version is 64-bit only.)
The Enterprise Edition supports the Equinox OSGi runtime at the JVM level, enabling ahead-of-time compilation of Eclipse RCP (Rich Client Platform) applications,[2][3] and version 7.0 added such support for Web applications running on Apache Tomcat.[4][5] Version 10.5 introduced a new garbage collector optimized for multi-core and multi-CPU systems[6]
Excelsior JET Embedded[7] implements the Java SE for Embedded technology in a very similar manner. The only major differences used to be in licensing and pricing, but as of the latest version Excelsior JET Embedded also supports ARM-based platforms.
Latest Release
Version 15 introduced incremental compilation for AMD64 and ARM targets and improved application performance across all platforms.
Product EOL
On May 15, 2019, Excelsior announced discontinuation of Excelsior JET in an e-mail to their customers[8] and next day also on their website.[9] Support was announced to be stopped and the engineering team to leave completely within only ~2 weeks ("early June 2019") and Website for downloads announced to be offline mid of June (within only ~4 weeks). At August 7, 2019, it was announced[10] Excelsior was acquired by Huawei.
See also
- GNU Compiler for Java (removed from GCC in October 2016[11])
References
- "Java SE Licensees". Oracle Corporation. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved 17 Jul 2012.
- Craig Wickesser (23 Jul 2009). "Commercial Java Compiler Protects Eclipse RCP Applications". InfoQ.
- Dana Blankenhorn (1 Aug 2008). "Excelsior JET from Russia, with love". ZDNet. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- Brittain, Jason; Darwin, Ian F. (28 November 2007). "Section A.7. Excelsior JET". Tomcat: The Definitive Guide (Second ed.). O'Reilly Media, Inc. ISBN 978-0-596-10106-0.
- Cameron McKenzie (20 Apr 2010). "Forget the JOP. Just Compile Your Tomcat War Files into Native Code". TheServerSide. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
- John K. Waters (11 Feb 2015). "JET Update Amps Garbage Collection". Application Development Trends.
- William Wong (23 Jul 2012). "Java Tool Slims Down Embedded Runtime". Electronic Design. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
- "The magic of the Internet". Imgur. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
- https://www.excelsiorjet.com/ Archived 2019-07-15 at the Wayback Machine on May 16, 2019
- "Huawei acquires Russian developer Excelsior - report".
- Tom Tromey (2 Oct 2016). "The Deletion of gcj".