This document provides an overview of Project Avatar, which is Oracle's implementation of server-side JavaScript (Node.js) that runs on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM). It discusses how Avatar bridges Node.js and Java by allowing thousands of Node packages and Java libraries to be used together. It also describes Avatar's enterprise features like advanced multithreading, state sharing, persistence, and Java EE interoperability that allow building enterprise applications in JavaScript while leveraging existing Java infrastructure. The document concludes with a demo of Avatar's capabilities.

1. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Project
Avatar
Server-­‐side
JavaScript
on
the
JVM
!
JAX
London
-­‐
Oct.
2014
David
Delabassee
(@delabassee)
Oracle

2. Safe
Harbor
Statement
The
following
is
intended
to
outline
our
general
product
direction.
It
is
intended
for
information
purposes
only,
and
may
not
be
incorporated
into
any
contract.
It
is
not
a
commitment
to
deliver
any
material,
code,
or
functionality,
and
should
not
be
relied
upon
in
making
purchasing
decisions.
The
development,
release,
and
timing
of
any
features
or
functionality
described
for
Oracle’s
products
remains
at
the
sole
discretion
of
Oracle.
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
2

3. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Agenda
Setting
the
Context
Avatar
–
Enterprise
Node
on
the
JVM
Demo
1
3
3
2

4. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Agenda
Setting
the
Context
Avatar
–
Enterprise
Node
on
the
JVM
Demo
1
2
3
4

5. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Node.js
• Server-­‐side
JavaScript
based
on
Chrome
v8
engine
• Created
in
2009,
Open
Source
• Designed
for
scalable
Internet
applications
• Melting
pot
community
– Java,
.NET,
Browser,
PHP,
etc,
experience
• Node
Packaged
Modules
– Very
active,
with
+98,000
modules
(YMMV)
5
Server
Side
JavaScript

6. Node.js
Programming
Model
• Multi-­‐threading
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
is
hard
– Thousands
of
concurrent
connections
– Deal
with
deadlocks
and
race
conditions
• Blocking
on
I/O
is
bad
• Event
Loop
– Reactive
Model
– Non-­‐blocking
I/O
calls
• Application
code
executes
in
a
single
thread
6
Event
Clients Loop
Non-­‐blocking
Worker

7. Node.js
Programming
Model
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
7
var http = require("http");!
!
http.createServer( … ).listen(80);

8. Node.js
Programming
Model
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
8
var http = require("http");!
!
http.createServer(function(request, response) {!
! response.writeHead(200, {"Content-type": "text/plain"});!
! response.write("Hello World";)!
! response.end();!
}).listen(80);

9. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Nashorn
!
• Bundled
with
Java
7
and
8
• ECMAScript
5.1
compatibility
• Performance
(vs
Rhino)
• Java
Interoperability
9
6
4,5
3
1,5
0
crypto earley-­‐boyer mandreel pdas regexp splay
rhino
nashorn
jdk8
nashorn
jdk9
JavaScript
Engine

10. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Nashorn
Quick
Demo
10

11. Scaling
Server-­‐Side
JavaScript
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
11

12. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
What
If
I’m
in
a
Java
Shop?
• Java
Developer
Investments
– In-­‐house
Java-­‐based
frameworks
– 3rd
party
commercial
and/or
open
source
libraries
– Lots
of
experience
with
Java
development
• Investment
in
Java
infrastructure
– Java
EE
application
servers
– JMX-­‐based
monitoring
and
management
– Established
data
center
processes
and
best
practices
– “We
are
a
Java
company”,
or
“We
already
do
Java
and
.NET”
12

13. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Project
Avatar
13
Bridging
the
gap
Avatar
Node
on
the
JVM
!
Thousands
of
Node
libraries
!
Thousands
of
Java
libraries
Java
EE
Interoperability
!
Leverage
Existing
Infrastructure
!
Build
Enterprise
Applications
in
JavaScript
!

14. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Agenda
Setting
the
context
Avatar
–
Enterprise
Node
on
the
JVM
Demo
1
2
3
14

15. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Avatar
2.0
• 95%
Node
compatibility
provided
by
Avatar.js
• Uses
same
C
portability
libraries
as
Node.js
– libuv,
http-­‐parser
• No
Chrome
v8
native
APIs!
• Run
popular
packages
– Express,
async,
commander,
etc.
15

16. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Avatar
2.0
• Enterprise
Features
– Advanced
multithreading
– State
sharing
– Avatar
Persistence
– Java
EE
Interoperability
(EJB,
JMS)
16

17. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Avatar
2.0
-­‐
What’s
new
• Runs
standalone
– Out
of
the
box,
no
application
server
required
• Run
from
command
line
• Use
your
favorite
Node
framework(s)
• Use
your
favorite
client
framework
17

18. Avatar
Process
Application JavaScript Modules & Java Jars
Bundled Third-Party JavaScript Modules
Avatar API Modules
WLS T3 thin client
EclipseLink, NoSQL
MBeans
Avatar
Flight Recorder Probes
Application
JavaScript
&
Java
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
18
Avatar
2.0
Architecture
REST/WS/SSE
JVM
Core Node Modules
Nashorn & JRE 8
Mission
Control
Mgmt Plugin Admin Agent
EJB/JMS WebLogic
Data Database
libuv + JNI bindings
JavaScript
code
Java
code
Platform
specific
native
code
Optional
Processes
Coherence State Coherence

19. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Nashorn
!
• Bundled
with
Java
7
and
8
• ECMAScript
5.1
compatibility
• Performance
(vs
Rhino)
• Java
Interoperability
19
6
4,5
3
1,5
0
crypto earley-­‐boyer mandreel pdas regexp splay
rhino
nashorn
jdk8
nashorn
jdk9
JavaScript
Engine

20. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
20
Nashorn
-­‐
Using
Java
8
within
a
Node
app
var http = require("http");!
var list = new java.util.ArrayList();!
!
list.add("Blue"); list.add(“Green"); list.add("Yellow");!
list.add("Red"); list.add("Dark Red"); list.add("Light Red”);!
!
http.createServer(function(request, response) {!
response.writeHead(200, {"Content-Type": "application/json"});! !
var count = list.parallelStream()!
.filter(function(t) { return t.match('Red') } )!
.count();! !
response.end(“{'reds': count}”);!
}).listen(8080);

21. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Avatar
Multithreading
• Multiple
instances
of
an
application
in
single
JVM
process
– Each
instance
has
its
own
event
loop
thread
and
JavaScript
context
– Shared
sockets
–
every
instance
listens
on
the
same
port
– Optional
coordination
via
JavaScript
state
sharing
APIs
– Messaging
API
– Map
API
• Can
dynamically
create
background
threads
as
well
21
Taking
advantage
of
the
multithreaded
JVM

22. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Avatar
Application
Scaling
22
A
picture
is
worth
a
thousand
threads

23. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
23
Creating
New
Event
Threads
!var threads = require('avatar/threads');!
var createBallThread = function(ballInfo) {!
! var deferred = when.defer();!
! var eventThread = threads.newEventThread("BouncingBallThread", !
! ! __dirname + "/ball.js", [!
! ! ! "color=" + ballInfo.color,!
! ! ! "gravity=" + ballInfo.gravity,!
! ! ! "rowid=" + ballInfo.id_!
!! ! ]);!
! eventThread.start(function (event, error) {!
! ! switch(event) {!
! ! ! case "started":!
! ! ! ! console.log("Thread ", eventThread.thread.index(), "Started");!
! ! ! ! ballInfo.id = eventThread.thread.index();!
…

24. Avatar
Shared
State
Framework
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
• Message
Bus
– Publish
/
subscribe
message
passing
• Shared
State
– Simple
map
API
– Application-­‐scoped
instance
– Session-­‐scoped
instance
• Named
• Leased,
with
configurable
timeout
• Avatar
provides
required
serialization,
concurrency
control,
and
caching
24
Lightweight
inter-­‐thread
communication

25. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
25
Message
Bus
(Subscribe)
bus.on("kill", function (id) {!
if (_interval && _id && (_id.toString() === id.toString())) {!
clearInterval(_interval);!
process.exit();!
}!
});!
!
bus.subscribe("argsUpdate", function (data) {!
if (data.id === app.threadIndex) {!
gravity = data.gravity;!
}!
});

26. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
26
Message
Bus
(Publish)
_interval = setInterval(function () {!
var msg = {!
id: _id, !
color: app.args.color,!
heartbeat: heartbeat++, !
…!
};! !
msg.message = "Thread " + app.threadIndex + " | Heartbeat: " +!
heartbeat + " | Gravity: " + gravity;! !
bus.publish("messages", msg);! !
}, 2000);

27. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
• Supports
Relational
&
NoSQL
databases
• Similar
to
Sequelize,
JugglingDB,
etc
• Leverages
EclipseLink
JPA
Provider
• Leverages
mature,
feature
rich
Java
ecosystem
– Tooling
to
generate
JavaScript
model
for
existing
database
schema
– 2nd
level
JPA
cache
(TopLink
Grid)
– Oracle
RAC
connection
pooling,
etc.
27
Avatar
Persistence
Framework
JavaScript
API

28. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
28
Avatar
Persistence
(Model)
var avatar = require("avatar");!
var model = require("avatar/model");! !
var store = model.newStore(config.db.name, {!
database: config.db.database,!
username: config.db.username,!
properties: { "eclipselink.logging.level": “INFO” }!
});! !
var BallModel = model.newModel("Ball", {!
"color": "string",!
"gravity": "number"!
});! !
store.bind(BallModel);

29. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
29
Avatar
Persistence
(Model)
var avatar = require("avatar");!
var model = require("avatar/model");! !
var store = model.newStore(config.db.name, {!
database: config.db.database,!
username: config.db.username,!
properties: { "eclipselink.logging.level": “INFO” }!
});! !
var BallModel = model.newModel("Ball", {!
"color": "string",!
"gravity": "number"!
});! !
store.bind(BallModel);

30. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
30
Avatar
Persistence
return {!
! getThreads: function() {!
! ! return BallModel.getAll();!
! },!
! !
! createThread: function(thread) {!
! ! return BallModel.create(aBall);!
! },!
! !
! deleteThread: function(id) {!
! ! return BallModel.delete(id);!
! },!
! !
! updateThread: function(data) {!
! ! var deferred = when.defer();!
! ! BallModel.get(data.id_).then(function(row) {!
! ! row.gravity = parseInt(data.gravity);!
! ! BallModel.put(row).then(function(updatedRow) {

31. Additional
Features
and
Potential
• Expand
Java
Mission
Control
/
Flight
Recorder
support
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
• Remote
EJB
and
JMS
support
– Using
WebLogic
t3
thin
client
• Automatically
reload
application
on
file
change
(development
feature)
• Work
in
progress
– Coherence
(JCache)
integration
for
cross-­‐JVM
state
sharing
– Manage
using
WebLogic
and/or
Oracle
Enterprise
Manager
31

32. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Agenda
Setting
the
context
Avatar
–
Enterprise
Node
on
the
JVM
Demo
1
2
3
32

33. model.js
heartbeat gravity heartbeat heartbeat Message
Bus
express.js ws.js avatar.js
Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
33
Browser main.js ball.js ball.js ball.js
.
.
.
ball.js
newEventThread(‘ball.js’)
REST
WebSocket
Avatar
Process
Database
Demo

34. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
Next
• Check
Avatar
- http://avatar.java.net
• We
plan
to
open
source
Avatar
2.0
soon
• We
need
your
feedback!
!
• Thank
You!
34

35. Copyright
©
2014,
Oracle
and/or
its
affiliates.
All
rights
reserved.
|
35