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JavaFX on ARM
In the not so distant past, the world of embedded devices was rather closed, and not very accessible for Java developers.
Each device had its own, often proprietary set of tools that allowed developers to interact with it. The available resources
on a device (processor, memory) were very limited as well.
Over the past couple of years, this has started to change dramatically. Devices are becoming much more
powerful, more open, and less expensive.
•
Powerful:
Even embedded devices are now often equipped with multicore processors, and
with a specific graphics processing unit (GPU) that deals with the graphical computations,
thereby reducing the load on the CPU(s).
•
Open:
Many new embedded devices use an open source operating system on top of a well-
known processor. Typical examples of this are the Linux-based embedded devices using ARM
processors.
•
Cheaper:
Prices for electronic components have decreased, and assembly is cheaper as well,
with Internet users being encouraged to develop and assemble their own boards.
These evolutions have led to a big shift in embedded computing. The tipping point has been reached where it
is possible to use the same Java platform on a number of embedded devices as the Java platform that runs on
desktop systems.
For smaller systems, the Java Platform, Micro Edition 8 is still the best solution. The starting point for developers
who want to know more about the Java Micro Edition is the Oracle web site at
http://docs.oracle.com/javame/8.0/
index.html
. Although the Java Platform, Micro Edition 8 is a powerful platform with some interesting APIs allowing a
direct link to native interfaces, in this topic we focus on the Java Platform, Standard Edition.
A comparison between the Java Platform, Micro Edition 8 and the Java Platform, Standard Edition 8 can be found
in Figure
12-3
, which is taken from a blog entry by Terence Barr, who is a Senior Technologist, Mobile & Embedded
at Oracle.
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