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Oracle Releases First Mac JDK, JavaFX SDK

• By David Nagel
• 04/26/12

Oracle has released Java Platform, Standard Edition 7 Update 4 and JavaFX 2.1, Oracle's first releases of the Java Development Kit and JavaFX SDK for Mac OS X.

The Java SE 7 Update 4 incorporates a number of enhancements, including improvements to Java Virtual Machine performance and the new Garbage First, a garbage collection algorithm designed for high performance on multi-core systems with large amounts of memory. JVM performance has been improved, according to Oracle, by merging Oracle JRockit performance enhancements into both Oracle Java HotSpot and OpenJDK. Oracle previously announced it would merge the Oracle Java HotSpot JVM and the Oracle JRockit JVM into a converged JVM with the release of Java SE 8, scheduled for release in 2013.

Oracle reported that Java SE 7 Update 4 is "fully supported and recommended for use" with Oracle Fusion Middleware.

Oracle first previewed Java SE 7 on Mac OS X in October 2011, when it also announced plans for a consumer version. According to Oracle, a consumer version of Java SE 7 and the Java Runtime Environment is still planned for release for Mac OS X later this year.

"Java SE 7 Update 4 will be the first consumer release of the Java 7 JRE, scheduled to be made available as the default version on Java.com starting on May 1, 2012," according to Oracle.

Oracle also released JavaFX 2.1 software development kit for Mac OS X and Windows, as well as a developer preview for Linux. Enhancements in 2.1 include:

• Playback support for h.264-encoded video and AAC-encoded audio in MPEG-4 containers;
• WebView to support Java method calls in JavaScript;
• Improved font rendering; and
• Various UI improvements, including "controls for Combo Box, Stacked Chart, and application-wide menu bar."

The JavaFX SDK is included with Java SE 7 Update 4.

Additional details can be found on Oracle's Java SE and JavaFX pages.