Languages and standards - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Java devs abhor Oracle's plan to kill private APIs

  Key Java proponents are up in arms over the planned elimination of private API capabilities, specifically sun.Misc.unsafe, in the upcoming Java Standard Edition 9 release.

• MEAN vs. LAMP for the future of programming

  The transition from cutting-edge curiosity to practical workhorse is not one that many technologies make. Yesterday's precocious upstarts often fail to live up to their Version 0.1 promise -- not so for the technologies that make up the fiercely acronymized MEAN stack.

• Red Hat takes the reins of OpenJDK 7

  Red Hat is taking over stewardship of the OpenJDK 7 project, at the moment a generation behind the current release of Java.

• Microsoft, Google, Mozilla team to build a faster Web

  Web apps and pages may soon get a speed boost to rival the performance of native desktop and mobile applications, thanks to a new standards initiative from Microsoft, Google and Mozilla.

• Not only Node.js: AWS Lambda adds Java support

  AWS Lambda, a compute service from Amazon Web Services that bridges functional programming and the cloud, is adding Java development capabilities.

• Five things Apple is doing to please developers

  Apple had lots to offer developers at this year's Worldwide Developers Conference keynote. Headline improvements included a new version of the soon to be open sourced Swift programming language and upgraded frameworks for creating more advanced Watch apps.

• Amazon's Go SDK one step closer with preview release

  Amazon Web Services has announced the first Developer Preview of its SDK for the Go programming language, giving developers who want to integrate cloud services in their apps more choice.

• New query language could turn log files into business insights

  IT departments have long relied on log data to help keep systems up and running, but they're not the only ones who can benefit from these vast stores of information. A new analytics language from Logentries could help managers tap log data to gain insights about their business.
  

• Instagram engineer delves into emoji madness

  Emojis: Kids may love their simplicity, but programmers will loathe their complexities.

• Microsoft hints at potential C# 7 features

  Microsoft is moving forward with plans for version 7 of its C# language, posting lists of potential features, including tuples, pattern matching, nullability tracking and syntax for lists.

• Red Hat broadens programming language support

  Potentially making work easier for system administrators, Red Hat has updated its development packages to support running multiple versions of the same programming language on its flagship enterprise operating system, Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL).

• Grails Web framework finds home at Object Computing

  The Grails Web framework for Java, recently left orphaned by Pivotal along with the companion Groovy language, has a new home at Object Computing (OCI), which has hired key Grails developers.

• MIT's Picture language could be worth a thousand lines of code

  Now that machine-learning algorithms are moving into mainstream computing, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology is preparing a way to make it easier to use the technique in everyday programming.

• Cool tools for compiling to JavaScript

  Every programmer has a favorite language or two. JavaScript lovers are the luckiest these days because their language is taking over the Internet and the Internet is taking over the world. Those whose hearts reside elsewhere in the programming language world, however, are stuck. They can either stay on the sidelines and curse the relentless juggernaut of HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Node.js, or they can find a way to love it.

• Language forks bring new power to programming

  Computer languages are like their real-life counterparts: They constantly evolve. But unique to the evolution of programming languages is the ability to expressly fork them -- to publicly announce a desire to branch off and deviate from the lineage. Sometimes the forks are temporary, with the new branch rejoining and influencing its parent. Other times, a useful variation of an existing language arises and is sustained. Or the mutation takes off, and an entirely new language is born.