Scripting/Other Languages

Scripting/Other Languages

New version of Groovy cozies up to Java, SQL
A new version of the Groovy programming language aims to make life easier for programmers who work with Java and SQL, the language's developers note.
Joab Jackson, January 2010

Ajax: Tools of the trade
Ajax has effectively launched a new era in JavaScript development, bringing with it a plethora of robust tools for the JavaScript programmer. Take a quick tour of the tools you could be using for JS development, debugging, testing, and more. You'll never code JavaScript in just a text editor again.
Nathaniel T. Schutta, May 2009

Clojure: Challenge your Java assumptions
Clojure's immutable datatypes, lockless concurrency, and simple abstractions make parallel programming for multicore hardware simpler and more robust than in Java. Joshua Fox takes you on a tour of this exciting new language for the JVM, which was just recently released in v1.0.
Joshua Fox, May 2009

Jump into JavaFX, Part 4: The advanced APIs
Jeff Friesen completes his comprehensive tour of the JavaFX APIs with a look at how JavaFX handles media, GUIs, and special effects. You'll also try your hand at building and deploying a stock-ticker application to Google Chrome.
Jeff Friesen, April 2009

Understanding actor concurrency, Part 2: Actors on the JVM
Erlang isn't the only language for implementing actor concurrency. Find out how actors work and see them implemented in Scala's standard library, Groovy's GParallelizer, and the Java libraries Kilim, ActorFoundry, Actors Guild, and Jetlang.
Alex Miller, March 2009

ActionScript for Java developers, Part 2
Like other dynamic languages, ActionScript has capabilities and usage patterns that could take a Java developer by surprise. In this second half of his guide to the differences between Java and ActionScript 3, Chet Haase discusses properties, dynamic behavior, and functions.
Chet Haase, March 2009

Grails amps performance, thanks to Groovy 1.6
SpringSource on Tuesday announced the long-awaited release of Grails 1.1, which features performance improvements based on Groovy 1.6. Graeme Rocher discusses new features that will make a difference to Web developers using Spring and Grails.
Paul Krill, March 2009

Open source Java projects: JFXtras
Jeff Friesen shows you how Stephen Chin's JFXtras project fills the gaps in JavaFX, with dialog boxes, layouts, a unit-testing framework, and asynchronous thread support.
Jeff Friesen, February 2009

ActionScript for Java developers, Part 1
Java developers making the leap from Java syntax to ActionScript have been known to stumble, or at least bruise their fingers typing vars where none used to be. Chet Haase launches a two-part introduction to ActionScript 3's filthy rich syntax, and all the ways it differs (and doesn't) from good old Java code.
Chet Haase, February 2009

Bespin preview: Take it for a spin?
Mozilla Labs developers Ben Galbraith and Dion Almaer have released a preview version of Bespin, a Web-based JavaScript code editor focused on open Web standards, real-time collaboration, and interface extensibility.
Paul Krill, February 2009

Introduction to the Dojo toolkit, Part 2: Infrastructure code
Ajax programming isn't all fun, all the time, and that's just where a bigger JavaScript framework comes in handy. In this second half of his introduction to the Dojo toolkit, Sunil Patil shows you how Dojo's muscle can help you overcome common Ajax challenges, while also providing the infrastructure for handling cross-browser compatibility, error handling, and data encoding.
Sunil Patil, February 2009

Jump into JavaFX, Part 3: The basic APIs
Jeff dives into the JavaFX APIs this month with a script-driven introduction to javafx.lang, javafx.util, and javafx.application. This third article in the Jump into JavaFX series includes an overview of keyframe animation and a short introduction to creating and manipulating shapes and images in JavaFX.
Jeff Friesen, February 2009

JavaFX: Could it be a contender?
InfoWorld's Peter Wayner takes JavaFX 1.0 for a spin and concludes there's a market for it, alright, but maybe not the same market dominated by Flash.
Peter Wayner, February 2009

REST for Java developers, Part 3: NetKernel
Transitioning from an object-oriented to a resource-oriented perspective means letting go of your ideas about how things should work. Give it a try with this introduction to NetKernel: a URI-based microkernel environment that relaxes object bindings to enable more scalable and maintainable RESTful systems.
Brian Sletten, February 2009

Client-side Java's evolutionary leap
Need perspective on the rapid evolution of client-side Java? Get it here, as Jeff Friesen invites leading lights in the Java community to share thoughts, and some scoops, on recent developments and what's next for client-side Java development. Topics include JavaFX, Swing, NetBeans 6.5, OpenJDK, and the Da Vinci Machine.
Jeff Friesen, January 2009

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