The Jakarta Commons Lang Component

$Id: STATUS.html,v 1.10 2002/08/26 06:00:32 dlr Exp $
[Introduction] [Dependencies] [Release Info] [Known Issues] [Action Items] [Committers]

1. INTRODUCTION

The Lang Component contains a set of Java classes that provide helper methods for standard Java classes, especially those found in the java.lang package in the Sun JDK. The following classes are included:

StringUtils - Helper for java.lang.String.
CharSetUtils - Methods for dealing with CharSets, which are sets of characters such as [a-z] and [abcdez].
RandomStringUtils - Helper for creating randomised Strings.
NumberUtils - Helper for java.lang.Number and its subclasses.
NumberRange - A range of numbers with an upper and lower bound.
ObjectUtils - Helper for creating any Object.
SerializationUtils - Helper for serializing Objects.
HashCodeBuilder - Helper to enable the construction of a good hash code.
NestedException package - A sub-package for the creation of nested exceptions.
Enum package - A sub-package for the creation of enumerated types.

2. DEPENDENCIES

The Lang component is dependent upon the following external components for development and use:

Java Development Kit (Version 1.2 or later)
JUnit Testing Framework (Version 3.7 or later) - for unit tests only, not required for deployment

3. RELEASE INFO

Current Release: Version 1.0 - Beta 1

Planned Next Release: An rc1 and then a full release are planned in early Autumn/Fall 2002.

4. KNOWN ISSUES

SystemUtils - Details of this new class need to be finalised

5. ACTION ITEMS

Want to help? Here's some "to do" items the team has identified. Note that all are still under discussion, so please mail the list before actioning.

Reflection utilities - new sub-package to deal with reflection
SystemUtils - Utility to define system constants
Operating system information - maybe part of SystemUtils, maybe another project
ToStringBuilder - Helper to build a good toString method
EqualsBuilder - Helper to build a good equals method
CompareToBuilder - Helper to build a good compareTo method
NullObject - Singleton object to use as a placeholder when null is not accepted
ObjectUtils identityToString method - replicating the original toString of an object (from John Yu)
MathUtils - possible addition of mathmatics helper. Could go in NumberUtils
CalendarUtils - possible addition of a calendar utility class (from Serge Knystautas)
CloneUtils - utility class to enable cloning via various different mechanisms
StringUtils containsOnly method - proposed new method to check if a string contains only certain chars
exception package tests - consolidate code duplicated across tests for Nestable implementations
exception package tests - add testing of new NestableError class

6. COMMITTERS

The following individuals are the primary developers and maintainers of this component. Developers who plan to use Lang in their own projects are encouraged to collaborate on the future development of this component to ensure that it continues to meet a variety of needs.