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Zmanim API 2.4.0 Released

The KosherJava Zmanim API version 2.4.0 was released on Nov 27, 2022 ד׳ כסלו תשפ״ג in Maven and GitHub.

New in Version 2.4.0

Added JewishCalendar.getUpcomingParshah() that returns the upcoming Parsha regardless of the day of week.
Change YerushalmiYomiCalculator to return null on Yom Kippur and Tisha Be’Av when there is no Daf.
Add some Luach Ahavat Shalom Zmanim.
Add BeHaB to the JewishCalendar class.
Add Yom Kippur Katan and Isru Chag to the JewishCalendar class.
Add the TefilaRules class, a utility class for info like:
- is Vesain Tal Umatar recited etc.
- is Tachanun recited during shacharis or mincha.
- Is Hallel or Hallel Shalem recited
Deprecate the tefila rules methods that existed in JewishCalendar class in favor of using the ones in the TefilaRules class.
Add getSamuchLeMinchaKetana zman.
Deprecate getSofZmanShmaFixedLocal() and getSofZmanTfilaFixedLocal() with future plans of removal.
Deprecate multiple “dangerous” zmanim as an alert to developers. These will be retained and not removed from the API.

The KosherJava site now has a new vasikin calendar generator tool. This allows vasikin minyanim to generate customized vasikin charts. Offsets for various pre-sunrise davening points can be set. There are separate weekday, Shabbos, Yom Tov and Rosh Hashana / Yom Kippur offsets for each davening point. The format of the charts is Excel, but it is optimized for printing eye pleasing charts.
I would like to thank Howard Reichman who requested a vasikin calendar for the Los Angeles LINK Kollel vasikin minyan that ended up with the development of this zmanim tool. Howard graciously funded the next 7 months of hosting for KosherJava.com.

Zmanim API 2.3.0 Released

The KosherJava Zmanim API version 2.3.0 was released on Dec 7th, 2021 ג׳ טבת תשפ״ב in Maven and GitHub. While there have been numerous releases over the years, this is the first release-related post since the v1.3.0 release in 2013. If you have not updated since that time, you can expect some changes. The most significant changes (besides a lot of new functionality) are the simple to fix breaking changes listed below.

New in Version 2.3.0

Added seasonal davening based zmanim including Vesein Tal Umatar/ Vesein Berachah / Mashiv Haruach.
Added Rav Moshe Feinstein’s fixed local chatzos based zmanim. These are used in MTJ and Yeshiva (and Camp) of Staten Island.
Refactored code for alos and tzeis zmaniyos based time (ports of the library to other languages can simplify their code by doing the same).
Fixed an issue with kiddush levana being off by an hour when the molad and kiddush levana zmanim are on different sides of the DST change. This impacted the JewishCalendar but not the ComplexZmanimCalendar.
Corrected the Hebrew spelling of Parshas Nitzavim.

The list of significant changes in this and previous releases can be seen in the KosherJava Zmanim API changelog.

Breaking Changes since v1.3

The Zmanim API no longer supports Java versions prior to Java 8 (released in March 2014). It likely still compiles against Java 6 released in December 2006.
The package structure changed from net.sourceforge.zmanim to com.kosherjava.zmanim.
There were two mathematically identical calculators using the USNO algorithm, so the less clean (code-wise) ZmanimCalculator was removed, while the SunTimesCalculator was retained.

Parsha Code Removed from KosherJava Zmanim Calendar API

Due to licensing issues that were brought to my attention last year, the parsha code was removed from the Zmanim API on Aug 22, 2016. In the future I may release the parsha code as a standalone module under the GPL license, or create a new LGPL implementation. To understand this more clearly, the current Zmanim API is licensed under the LGPL, while the parsha code contained some GPL code that had to be removed in order to retain the LGPL license. I would welcome any code submission for parsha code that could be released under the LGPL.

Update: Parsha Code Restored

On November 17, 2019 – י״ט מרחשון תש״פ an updated post Parsha Code Restored to the KosherJava Zmanim Calendar API announced the restoration of the parsha functionality.

Zmanim Map 3.5 adds Date and Algorithm Selection

Vintage Map with Compass The Zmanim Map was recently updated to version 3.5. This new release adds a number of new features (listed below), and some technical changes over the previous Zmanim Map 3.0 release. With this release, the main focus of the map has shifted to the zmanim tabs. The direction to Yerushalayim tab with davening directions using both the rhumb line and great circle route to Yerushalayim is still present, but is no longer the default tab.

The date can now be selected by the user. In previous versions the date was always the current date on the user’s computer (though the map always supported passing the date on the URL using the undocumented date=1969-02-08 parameter). The current date is still the default, but the user can now change the date.
The calculation algorithm is now selectable. The Zmanim API supports both the USNO and NOAA algorithms. The map has always used the USNO algorithm, and this remains the default, but users can now use the NOAA algorithm.
The Zmanim tab is now the default tab. This reflects user feedback indicating that most people use the map for zmanim.
An About tab now provides a mini user guide and general information about the map.
The timezone look-up now uses the Google Time Zone API. Previously the map had been using the Geo Names web service. Since the elevation service also uses Google, the change to a single stable source will hopefully result in fewer outages.
The currently selected tab persists across location changes, so if you were viewing zmanim for a location, and changed the location to see how the zmanim were affected, you will no longer have to change tabs after each move.
Candle Lighting was added for Fridays. Erev Yom Tov will not show candle lighting at this point.
Performance improvements, minor enhancements, bug fixes and refactoring

Category: Site News

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