I come from a Java background and was heavily involved in the Java Community Process Executive Committee and also participated in the development of a couple of specifications (e.g. EJB, and Groovy). So I'm interested in multitouch succeeding in Java as much as any platform.There are several multitouch APIs that support the use the Java programming language and with the introduction of Windows 7 and Mac OS X Snow Leopard there are bound to be more.
I'm thinking of proposing a new Java Specification Request called Java Multi-Touch API, which would provide an abstraction compatible with as many multi touch libraries as possible. The idea is to lower the barrier to entry for the Java community which has not yet embraced multitouch but will certainly need to before the end of next year (if not earlier).
I'm interested in talking to folks who have developed multitouch APIs for other platforms, or ported multitouch APIs to Java, to work with me to propose a multitouch API for the Java Platform, Standard Edition.
I suspect with multitouch becoming a standard part of operating systems that Sun/Oracle will include it in the Java Platform, Standard Edition in the future but will probably offer it as an extension API in the interim. As members of the multitouch community we can (A) stand by and wait for Sun to put this together and hope they get it right or (B) take the lead now and propose the development of a specification. I would prefer to do the later.
I know a lot of people believe that Java is dead on the client (JavaFx hasn't helped change anyone's mind), but the fact is: a lot of client development is still done in Java (possibly more than Coco for the Mac) and the Java community will need a good, platform agnostic API in order to support multitouch input.
If you have the credentials and are interested in joining me in the development and execution of a proposal for a Java Multitouch API, than please send an email to me at richard@monson-haefel.com (beware I have an aggressive challenge and response email account, so if I don't respond quickly check your junk folder for the challenge).
I want Java, which has a development community of over 6 million, to support as many multi-touch systems as possible. Do you?
4 comments:
For this years GSoC, NUI Group has a student that'll be working on 'Component-Based HCI UI Framework and High-Level HCI Library for Java' that'll involve multitouch. It would be great to hear your suggestions and I'm sure it'd benefit the community at large.
Hi,
I put together something very basic in Java based on someone elses native analysis of the Mac's multi-touch trackpad; it's more relevant as a low-level driver wrapper and not a high level gesture API. But thought you might like to have a look?
http://workbench.glulogic.com/2009/05/30/java-api-for-mac-trackpad-multitouch-example/
Hi,
I have released the source and binaries for checkout and download respectively at: http://kenai.com/projects/macmultitouch
All the best,
Wayne
Another impressive high level multitouch framework for Java is Multitouch for Java (MT4j). It supports several import formats and is based OpenGL for high performance rendering in 2D and 3D.
Post a Comment