Languages and standards - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Java put on a regular release schedule

  Starting with Java 8, to be released in September, the development team behind the widely used programming language plans to release a new version of Java every two years -- and stick to that schedule.

• C variants rule programming language roost

  Information technology may thrive on the new, but it is heavily supported by a programming language more than 40 years old.

• Panasonic joins Smart TV Alliance; new SDK to launch this week

  Panasonic has joined the Smart TV Alliance, a project started by LG last year to create a common platform for developing connected TV applications.

• New Ada 2012 ISO standard offers security boost

  The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) has published as a standard the latest version of the Ada programming language, Ada 2012, which offers a new security feature found in few other languages, called contract-based programming.

• YouTube scales MySQL with Go code

  YouTube engineers are developing a set of software, called Vitess, that will help open-source MySQL databases work more efficiently in very large-scale production environments. To write the code, they are using Google's programming language Go.

• Amazon connects node.js to AWS services

  Amazon is providing a way for one of the most popular JavaScript extensions, node.js, to easily access the Amazon Web Service collection of cloud computing capabilities.

• Oracle hit with patent lawsuit over WebLogic Server

  Oracle is finding itself caught up in another Java-related patent lawsuit, but this time it's the one getting sued.

• Microsoft updates C++ compiler

  Microsoft is updating its C++ compiler for its Visual Studio 12 IDE (integrated development environment) so that Windows application developers can use parts of the latest version of the programming language, C++11.

• Windows 8 presses developers to update their skills

  Microsoft likes to talk about Windows 8 as being Windows "reimagined," and in many ways it is quite a departure from its predecessors. To allow the operating system's use across a range of touchscreen devices, Microsoft radically redesigned the look and feel of the OS.

• Microsoft CEO Ballmer touts Windows 8 momentum

  Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer kicked off the company's annual Build developer conference emphasizing the momentum of the company's new Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 operating systems.

• Oracle brings cross platform Java dev to mobile devices

  Oracle is augmenting its Oracle Application Development Framework (ADF) to allow developers to create mobile applications for Apple and Android devices.

• Oracle demands January trial in Google-Android case

  Google and Oracle continue to differ over when their lawsuit over alleged Java intellectual property violations in the Android mobile OS should begin, according to a joint filing the companies made late Monday in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

• Facebook releases a PHP just-in-time compiler

  In its continuing endeavor to serve its 800 million users as quickly as possible, Facebook is once again revamping the way it handles its PHP-based Web pages.

• PHP 5.4 emerges from the collapse of PHP 6.0

  With the pending release of PHP version 5.4, due early next year, the creators behind the popular Web scripting language are including the best parts of the now-abandoned PHP 6.0 project.

• EBay launches Web query language

  In the hopes of reducing the complexity of making data calls over the Web, eBay has launched a programming language, called ql.io, which bundles separate API requests into a single call.