Built on a copy of the Open JDK javac compiler, a new project Kijaro has laid the groundwork for developers to add their desired features to Java. Unlike a similar project KSL, Kijaro is less restrictive on developers with the rules and legal bindings, having the following rules:
- Documentation. Each new language feature must have some form of associated document, even if its just a blog. It doesn't have to be much, but should have an outline of why the feature is needed and the syntax implications.
- Backwards compatibility. On svn TRUNK all existing Java code must compile.
- Comments. Each change must have a comment so we can find it later, such as 'FCM-MREF'.
Each feature in Kijaro is its own branch within the project, allowing for a cleaner division of the features being worked on. Kijaro project lead Stephen Colebourne recently outlined a list enhancements that have already been done in his blog:
- First Class Methods (FCM) - Stephen Colebourne and Stefan Schulz - method references and inner methods
- Properties - Remi Forax - new property keyword
For more information, or to start a branch in the Kijaro project contact the mailing list.