You can vote for jEdit as the editor of the year at LinuxQuestions.

A native JDK 1.4.2 for FreeBSD has been released. Right now it is only available in source form, so you'll have to compile it from the ports collection yourself. It seems to start faster than the native JDK 1.4.1; I'll have to wait and see to be able to say if it's any more stable (the native 1.4.1p3 and 1.4.1p4 were a bit buggy.)

All in all the code was a real pleasure to work with and the resulting library dropped right into my project. My project is also GPL'd so if anyone would like to take a look at the resulting code it can be found 3 comments

• BufferList 0.10: updated to jEdit 4.2 API; added open buffer and unsaved buffer counts; requires jEdit 4.2pre5 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• ErrorList 1.3.1: bug fix release; requires jEdit 4.2pre6 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FTP 0.7.1: updated to SSHTools 0.2.6 beta; bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre6, JakartaCommons 0.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• HeadlinePlugin 1.1.1: implemented the deferred loading API for faster jEdit startup times; removed the "Hide Description" option which was obsolete since 1.1; added new actions to move to the next/previous story within a feed; you can now do everything via the keyboard; requires jEdit 4.2pre1, InfoViewer 1.0, and JDK 1.4

jEdit 4.2pre6 is now available. While this is mostly a bug fix release, it has a few nice new features too, like C+b that completes from all visible buffers, and auto-detection of a buffer's encoding if an XML encoding processing instruction is present. A full changelog is available.

According to this article jEdit is included in Sun's Java Desktop System (or at least in the demo version). Which is actually a reworked and rebadged SuSE Linux distribution.

I've been working on a couple new themes for the site. I made the Slashdot theme for practice, but I think it came out pretty well. The Miller theme doesn't really do justice to the design provided by Joshua Miller, but it's not bad. I'll work on refining it some more when I get time.

• BufferList 0.9: added tooltips to the tree view; added an option to fully expand the tree by default; requires jEdit 4.0final and JDK 1.3
  
  
• Dict 0.4: updated to 4.2 API; upgraded menus; upgraded options pane; upgraded the DictPlugin menu; requires jEdit 4.2pre1 and JDK 1.3
  
  
• FTP 0.7: improved SFTP support thanks to SSHTools 0.2.5; improved FTP thanks to various bug fixes; requires jEdit 4.2pre3, JakartaCommons 0.3, and JDK 1.3
  
  
• IRC 2.0: new features like DCC File Transfer and CTCP added, as well as support for Bots written as jEdit plugins; you can also have the time printed in front of each message on a channel; requires jEdit 4.1pre5 and JDK 1.3

Because downloads need to be written by the web user, and sourceforge is a pain in the ass, the downloadable files were world writable. Some $%#!@ thought it would be cute do go around deleting other peoples' files.

Changes include: eliminating the need for manual conversion between primatives and wrappers (int -> Integer), improved for loop, generic typing, Metadata, Static imports, and Typesafe enum.

jEdit 4.2pre5 is now available. This release adds text drag and drop, and fixes a large number of bugs. See the change log for a full list.

This has interesting potential regarding jEdit, but it's still fairly early in the java community process. If it were approved and implemented, you could write a plugin once and use it with any of the major java IDEs.

They don't appear to have made public any specifics, so it's not possible to tell how hard it would be for jEdit to implement this, or whether jEdit could feasibly support this new API in addition to its current plugin API. Hopefully supporting the new API wouldn't interfere with things like dynamic loading.

From MacNN News :

Apple has released Java 1.4.1 Update 1 via the the Mac OS X Software Update preferences The update adds improved Java applet support for Safari and other Web browsers, improved rendering, and other compatibility enhancements. A Web download link is currently not available.

Don't be shy about submitting news. Not all news has to go on the front page. Other news can be found in the 'Categories' menu on the right side of the main page. Submitting a news article is a good way to provide more information about a download you submit.

You can also submit tutorials and info for people working with particular programming languages; they can go in their own categories. If you think we need more categories for anything, feel free to ask. It's not hard for me to add more.

If you'd like to help out with the community site, that's good too.

A native binary of JDK 1.3.1 for FreeBSD has been
Released

This release contains many bug fixes and they recommend everyone upgrade immediately.

See the Release Announcement or Change Log for more details.

"minor bugfix release that fixes a problem with the javah task on JDK 1.4.2 and a couple of bugs in the Visual Age for Java intergration tasks. If you don't use javah or VAJ, there is no reason to upgrade.

Ant News

"...the Apache Software Foundation has initiated a project to develop an open source, Apache-licensed implementation of the J2EE specification. In addition, the project is committed to certifying the implementation as J2EE compliant."

Original announcement is here.

Cookie Nest, a site for the Java programmer has recently relaunched. They have lots of java applets, applications, articles, beans, tutorials and more. Their most popular feature is a 24 chapter Java manual for beginners which is also good for those who want to review their basics. They also have forums, a chat room and a list of top Java sites. Go on over and give them a visit. ( http://www.cookienest.com )

Since loosing stuff is bad, we'll be implementing a new backup policy which will put a copy of all the important stuff in a nice safe place every night.