Java EE 5 (Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5), the new version of the platform, supports an alternative Web services technology.Programming in the REST (Representational State Transfer) style is enabled in Java EE 5, said Joe Keller, Sun vice president of marketing for SOA & Integration Platforms. “The improvement in the Java APIs for Web services included the ability to call in and out of Java using REST,” Keller said. Sometimes seen as an alternative to the more common SOAP and WSDL Web services, REST offers a simpler, albeit not as heavy-duty, method for ad hoc Web services, according to Sun officials at the JavaOne conference in San Francisco on Thursday afternoon. “It simplifies the way in which a developer has to work with calls back and forth between remote systems,” said Dan Roberts, Sun director of developer tools marketing. While SOAP and WSDL can equip a Web service with functionality such as management and security, REST enables a quicker path. “In some cases, you just want to get something [done] very quickly and that’s what REST provides,” Roberts said. Also at JavaOne, Keller noted work is under way on a real-time Java application server project, in which the application server would respond to real-time events such as stock feeds and weather information. In another discussion at the conference, Jean Elliott, director of Java product marketing for the Java Standard Edition Platform, said Sun hears from what appears to be a minority of people in favor of open sourcing of Java. “However, we hear from an equally vocal majority that say quality, stability and compatability matter,” she said. Sun is forging ahead with plans to offer Java through an open source format. The company has not committed to a timetable for doing so, Elliott noted. Software Development