Java & XML Data Binding

Chapter 10. Looking Forward

Before closing up shop on data binding, I want to talk briefly about what you should expect in the coming months and years. Data binding is an API that is so new that there is far more ahead for it than there is behind. Because of that, I’m asked far more often about when this feature will be available or when that version will be released than about existing functionality.

While there is certainly a good basis of fact behind all of the predictions in this chapter, you should never consider them ironclad. If you don’t already know, deadlines and promises in the technical world are rarely worth the cost of the paper they are printed on. You can consider the information in this chapter reliable, but don’t get too hung up on the generalized dates I’ve tried to provide on when you should see them.

JAXB

JAXB remains the significant focus of most developers just getting into data binding. Because Sun has led the Java charge from the beginning, many programmers who would not use an open source data binding API are finally jumping on board with the JAXB early-access release, which came out in the summer of 2001. This section tries to address some of the frequent questions I get about JAXB and how its development is shaping up.

Final Release

More often than anything else, I’m asked when the JAXB 1.0 release will be publicly available. Since this signifies to many the coming of age of data binding, it is an important question. As noted in this book, several features ...