Excelsior JET

Excelsior JET
Developer(s)Excelsior LLC
Initial release2000; 24 years ago (2000)
Final release
15.3 / November 22, 2018; 5 years ago (2018-11-22)
Written inModula-2, Oberon-2, Java, Scala, C++, Assembly
Operating systemWindows, macOS, and Linux
PlatformIA-32, AMD64 and ARM
TypeAhead-of-time (AOT) native code compiler, runtime, and deployment toolkit for Java applications
LicenseEULA
Websitewww.excelsiorjet.com

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 was developed by Excelsior LLC, headquartered in Novosibirsk, Russia.

Overview

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Excelsior JET passed the "official" test suite (TCK) for Java SE 8, and was 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 was 64-bit only.)

The Enterprise Edition supported 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

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Version 15 introduced incremental compilation for AMD64 and ARM targets and improved application performance across all platforms.

Product EOL

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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

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References

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  1. ^ "Java SE Licensees". Oracle Corporation. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved 17 Jul 2012.
  2. ^ Craig Wickesser (23 Jul 2009). "Commercial Java Compiler Protects Eclipse RCP Applications". InfoQ.
  3. ^ Dana Blankenhorn (1 Aug 2008). "Excelsior JET from Russia, with love". ZDNet. Archived from the original on December 2, 2010. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ Cameron McKenzie (20 Apr 2010). "Forget the JOP. Just Compile Your Tomcat War Files into Native Code". TheServerSide. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  6. ^ John K. Waters (11 Feb 2015). "JET Update Amps Garbage Collection". Application Development Trends.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "The magic of the Internet". Imgur. Retrieved 2022-08-16.
  9. ^ https://www.excelsiorjet.com/ Archived 2019-07-15 at the Wayback Machine on May 16, 2019
  10. ^ "Huawei acquires Russian developer Excelsior - report".
  11. ^ Tom Tromey (2 Oct 2016). "The Deletion of gcj".
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