Languages and standards - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Oracle silent on Java independence initiative

  While Java founder James Gosling has campaigned for Oracle to place Java under the jurisdiction of an independent foundation, Oracle is declining to comment at all on the notion.

• JavaFX moves forward while mobile variant on hold

  JavaFX, the rich Internet application platform launched in 2007 by Sun Microsystems, will be refreshed next year, although the mobile version of the technology apparently has been placed on the back burner.

• HTML5 may help Web pages talk, listen

  Sometime in the near future, users might not only read Web pages but hold conversations with them as well, at least if a new activity group in the W3C (World Wide Consortium) bears fruit.

• ActiveState prepares Python for databases

  ActiveState has updated its distributions of the Python programming language so that they provide developers easier access to databases, as well as new ways of creating GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces), the company announced Wednesday.

• Oracle giving student coders free access to JavaOne

  Oracle is hoping to entice a younger generation of Java programmers into its fold by offering students complimentary admission to the upcoming JavaOne and Oracle Develop conferences.

• Gosling: Oracle could still live up to 2007 Java pledge

  There is still a way for Oracle to calm down people concerned about the fate of the Java programming language under the vendor's stewardship, according to James Gosling, known as the "father" of Java.

• HTML5 raises new security issues

  When it comes to new security issues, the security team for the Firefox browser have the new version of the Web HyperText Markup Language, HTML5, foremost on the mind.

• Microsoft simplifies Visual Studio

  Microsoft is gearing up to release a version of its Visual Studio integrated developer environment that it promises will be easy enough for even business managers to use.

• Google executive frustrated by Java, C++ complexity

  Today's commercial-grade programming languages -- C++ and Java, in particular -- are way too complex and not adequately suited for today's computing environments, Google distinguished engineer Rob Pike argued in a talk Thursday at the O'Reilly Open Source Conference.

• YouTube backs Flash

  In the ongoing debate over whether to use Flash or HTML5, Google has weighed in heavily in favor of using HTML5.

• Google Gmail to harness HTML5

  In keeping with Google's enthusiasm for the emerging HTML5 standard, many upcoming features of the company's Gmail Web-based e-mail service will be rendered in HTML5, said Adam de Boor, a staff software engineer working on the service.