New DrJava Beta Release: drjava-beta-20100415-r5220

We have made a new beta version available: drjava-beta-20100415-r5220. You can download it from SourceForge or from the DrJava homepage.

Available for download at http://drjava.org .

DrJava is a lightweight programming environment for Java designed to foster test-driven software development. It includes an intelligent program editor, an interactions pane for evaluating program text, a source level debugger, and a unit testing tool.

In addition to bug fixes in anticipation of the next stable release, this beta release includes a number of new features introduced after the last stable release:

These features include JUnit 4 support, ConcJUnit support, and the ability to use the built-in Eclipse compiler, the OpenJDK and JavaMint compilers.

Note: Java 1.4 compatibility has been dropped. To use DrJava, you will need Java 5 or newer.

New features since the last stable release:

• The Eclipse Java Compiler is now integrated into DrJava. DrJava therefore does not require the JDK anymore to compile programs. Note that the JDK is still required to use the debugger or to create Javadoc.
• DrJava supports the OpenJDK and JavaMint (multi-stage programming in Java; see http://www.javamint.org/ ) compilers.
• JUnit 4.7 support.
• ConcJUnit support (for concurrent unit tests; see http://www.concutest.org/ ).
• Access control for private and package private members now enabled by default.
• DynamicJava (Interpreter) error messages are much better, especially those involving method and constructor invocation.
• Added support in DynamicJava for explicit type arguments in local function invocations (“x = foo(23)”).
• The Breakpoint, Bookmarks, and Find Results tabbed panes now have Previous/Next buttons and associated keyboard shortcuts for simpler browsing.
• The Interactions Pane working directory can now be specified even when not using projects.
• If DrJava cannot start, for example because of bad memory settings in the Preferences, DrJava will suggest that you let it reset the Preferences.
• The preferred compiler can now be set, and this setting will be restored when DrJava starts the next time.
• Zoom for Print Preview.
• New Class wizard.
• Save Copy ability for Definitions documents, Interactions Pane and Console Pane contents.

Bug fixes since the last stable release:

• Fixed some indentation bugs.
• Fixed some GUI initialization problems that prevented DrJava from starting on some systems.
• Fixed a bug that prevented DrJava from opening on MacOS 10.5 or 10.6.
• Fixed compiler error when closing curly brace missing.
• Fixed NullPointerException in Jar Project dialog.
• Fixed a bug that prevented users from editing External Processes.
• Fixed a bug in un-commenting source code.
• Fixed a bug in displaying the Auto-Import dialog in the Interactions Pane.
• Improved suggestion to increase interactions JVM heap.
• Improved responsiveness when selecting a compiler.
• Fixed a bug that prevented users from generating Javadoc of Language Level files.
• DynamicJava (Interpreter) bug fix allows the declaration of interfaces.
• Miscellaneous small DynamicJava bug fixes make it much more robust and correct, including better handling of member lookup, inner classes, enums, interfaces, raw types, static imports, switch statements, casts, and final variables.
• Bugfix for comparing 0.0 == -0.0 and NaNs.
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Supports annotation declarations
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Fixes parser bug for enums
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Fixes implicit accessibility of interface members
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Fixes checking of assignments from character literals
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Improves checking of casts
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: getClass() is a special method with type Class for all classes
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Improves error messages for inner class references
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Preserves location in wildcards
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Catches errors that occur during static initialization of a class
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Short-circuiting during type checking
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: += for strings
• Bugfix in DynamicJava: Array initializer is assigned to a non-array type
• Misc improvements to DynamicJava SoureChecker
• Bugfix that prevented users from watching local variables in the Debugger.
• Smaller Java Language Level fixes.