Open Source Composite Oriented Programming platform and tools provides "New Energy For Java"

Forest Hill, MD –4 August 2015– The Apache Software Foundation (ASF), the all-volunteer developers, stewards, and incubators of more than 350 Open Source projects and initiatives, announced today the immediate availability of Apache™ Zest™ Java Edition v.2.1, the Composite Oriented Programming platform leveraging Java.

As Java is not a pure object-oriented language (thereby limiting code reuse and recycling), Composite Oriented Programming (COP) defines a whole new paradigm of how software is written, where INTENT is expressed and enforced by execution environment, helping developers to be disciplinary and in return improving efficiency and clarity. Composite Oriented Programming allows developers to work with 'fragments', smaller than classes, and 'compose' fragments into larger 'composites' which acts like the regular objects. Apache Zest also tackles the enforcement of application composition, i.e. composites are declared in modules, modules are contained in layers and access between how layers are controlled/enforced.

"Apache Zest is a completely new way of writing software", said Niclas Hedhman, Vice President of Apache Zest. "Object orientation isn't the appropriate abstraction, as objects in real application get too bloated and inter-dependent. By working with fragments, it is possible to break the objects down the respective roles that objects typically have, and mix those roles across different types of objects."

Apache Zest integrates aspect oriented programming, persistence, indexing/query, architecture enforcement and dependency injection.

"This 2.1 release, filled with new features and some bug fixes, is an important stepping stone towards the future," said Paul Merlin, Apache Zest Release Manager. "Compatibility with Qi4j 2.0 API has been maintained, but all documentation and other references are fully converted to Apache Zest, and in Zest 3.0 the transformation will be completed."

"Apache Zest challenges us Java developers to think differently, but enables increased productivity and fewer bugs," said Jiri Jetmar, member of the Apache Zest Project Management Committee and long-time Zest user. "We find that nearly all boiler-plate code, often found in JPA applications are completely eradicated, without mapping configuration and other details that just slows you down."

"Apache Zest's slogan --'New Energy for Java - Classes are Dead, Long Live Interfaces' -- truly captures what Apache Zest is really about: designing software efficiently," added Hedhman. "We are now looking forward to Zest 3.0, with many new interesting features, such Messaging integration, Event Sourcing, Timeseries, Geospatial Support, and much more. All with Java 8 goodness."

Zest originated as Qi4j in 2007, roughly four years following Rickard Öberg's inception of Composite Oriented Programming (COP). In early 2007, Hedhman convinced Öberg to start a new Open Source project around this concept, and Qi4j was born. Since the project's was first announced at the 2007 Oredev conference, 28 people have contributed source to the project, and many others have participated on mailing lists regarding direction, concepts and design.

Apache Zest has the unique designation as the first project to enter the ASF as a pTLP –provisional Top-Level Project– without entering the Apache Incubator (the official entry path for projects and codebases wishing to become part of the efforts at The Apache Software Foundation). As part of its eligibility, Apache Zest had to meet the rigorous requirements of the Apache Maturity Model http://s.apache.org/O4p , which addresses the integrity of a project's code, copyright, licenses, releases, consensus building, and independence, among other qualities. Apache Zest became an official ASF Top-Level Project in March 2015.

"Apache Zest arrived to the Apache Software Foundation four months ago, and we are incredibly satisfied with the progress on both the codebase as well as the transition from our previous Qi4j identity", added Hedhman.

Catch Apache Zest in action on 2 October 2015 at ApacheCon: Core in Budapest, where many members of the core development team will be available for questions and more before and after the presentation http://sched.co/3x3Y

Availability and Oversight
Apache Zest software is released under the Apache License v2.0 and is overseen by a self-selected team of active contributors to the project. A Project Management Committee (PMC) guides the Project's day-to-day operations, including community development and product releases. For downloads, documentation, and ways to become involved with Apache Zest, visit http://zest.apache.org/

About The Apache Software Foundation (ASF)
Established in 1999, the all-volunteer Foundation oversees more than 350 leading Open Source projects, including Apache HTTP Server --the world's most popular Web server software. Through the ASF's meritocratic process known as "The Apache Way," more than 550 individual Members and 4,700 Committers successfully collaborate to develop freely available enterprise-grade software, benefiting millions of users worldwide: thousands of software solutions are distributed under the Apache License; and the community actively participates in ASF mailing lists, mentoring initiatives, and ApacheCon, the Foundation's official user conference, trainings, and expo. The ASF is a US 501(c)(3) charitable organization, funded by individual donations and corporate sponsors including Bloomberg, Budget Direct, Cerner, Citrix, Cloudera, Comcast, Facebook, Google, Hortonworks, HP, IBM, InMotion Hosting, iSigma, Matt Mullenweg, Microsoft, Pivotal, Produban, WANdisco, and Yahoo. For more information, visit http://www.apache.org/ or follow @TheASF on Twitter.

© The Apache Software Foundation. "Apache", "Zest", "Apache Zest", and "ApacheCon" are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries. All other brands and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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