jclasslib--The 3k Stars Bytecode Editor

An airhacks.fm conversation with Ingo Kegel (@IngoKegel) about:

jclasslib bytecode viewer development history starting in 2001, transition from CVS to Subversion to Git, SourceForge to GitHub migration, Swing UI development with FlatLaf look and feel, comparison between Swing and SWT APIs, Eclipse plugin development experiences, Visual Studio Code integration with jprofiler, Homebrew package management for Mac applications, Java desktop module and modularization, jlink for creating trimmed JDK distributions, security benefits of shipping only required modules, Java compatibility improvements since Java 17, Base64 encoder becoming public API, internal API access restrictions with module system, comparison of Java installation simplicity versus Node.js and python, potential JSON support in future JDK versions, NetBeans integration attempt and recognition issues, bytecode instrumentation for profiling, asm and ByteBuddy as standard bytecode manipulation libraries, class file format evolution and complexity, module system introducing new structures, stack map tables and verification challenges, using JClassLib for method signature extraction, dokka documentation system for Kotlin, package.md and package-info documentation patterns, potential revival of Swing for modern desktop applications, simplified application architectures compared to enterprise apps with 30-40 tabs, LLM and AI making applications simpler with chat interfaces, JClassLib use cases including learning JVM internals and editing class files, approximately 3000 GitHub stars indicating 30000+ users, IntelliJ IDEA plugin availability, physicist background influencing interest in Java internals, Java Language Specification and Class File Format books, experimental physics approach to understanding JVM

Ingo Kegel on twitter: @IngoKegel