News

• Mozilla readies app marketplace for public beta

  By Paul Krill | 16 May, 2012 20:12

  Mozilla Marketplace, which is Mozilla's entrant in the online application store arena, is set to move to a public beta stage in a few weeks, a company official said on Tuesday.

• Sencha Architect: Visual HTML5, sort of

  By Neil McAllister | 16 May, 2012 20:12

  Sencha describes Sencha Architect 2, the latest incarnation of its visual Web development tool, as "a massive upgrade to Ext Designer," the previous version. The name change from Designer to Architect reflects the product's new focus. Instead of a tool for building Web UIs, Sencha says the new version is suitable for creating complete Web applications, both for UI designers and back-end developers. That's true up to a point.

• Jet Brains tunes JavaScript IDE for Harmony

  By Paul Krill | 24 April, 2012 03:44

  JetBrains has begun shipping version 4.0 of its WebStorm JavaScript IDE, which features backing for the new features in the Harmony version of ECMAScript, the company said.

• First look: Visual Studio 11 beta leaner, meaner for Metro

  By Tim Anderson | 04 April, 2012 23:51

  Microsoft's Visual Studio is more than just an IDE. It's the official developer tool for Microsoft's platform, and new releases tie in with major changes in Windows. Visual Studio 11, now in beta, includes support for the Windows Runtime (WinRT), the engine that powers the new Metro-style, tablet-friendly user interface in Windows 8. As the tool for building Metro apps, Visual Studio 11 plays a critical role in the success or failure of the new Windows.

• Eclipse readies browser-based IDE

  By Paul Krill | 26 March, 2012 21:12

  The Eclipse Foundation for open source development tools is eyeing July as the release date for the 1.0 version of its Orion browser-based IDE for building Web applications, which will be discussed at this week's EclipseCon 2012 conference in Reston, Va.

• Node.js tools: Server-side JavaScript comes of age

  By Peter Wayner | 22 February, 2012 22:16

  The story of Node.js reads like it came from a Hollywood script assembly line: Some kids are monkeying around with scrap they picked up around the Internet and find a new way to snap it together. The next thing you know, they're lapping the pack at the racetrack and coasting to the winner's circle.

• JetBrains open-sources Kotlin language

  By Paul Krill | 15 February, 2012 08:38

  JetBrains has made a preliminary version of Kotlin, its statically compiled language that compiles to Java Virtual Machine byte code and JavaScript, available via open source, the company said on Tuesday.

• The rise of Node.js: JavaScript graduates to the server

  By Paul Krill | 07 February, 2012 22:11

  Although it is just three years old, Node.js is gaining traction as an application development platform, letting developers extend JavaScript beyond the browser and into servers. But questions remain about JavaScript's appropriateness on servers and developers' readiness to use it.

• Google helps translate JavaScript to its Dart alternative

  By Paul Krill | 31 January, 2012 08:48

  Promoting its own alternative language to JavaScript, Google is working to bridge JavaScript to Google Dart, with the release Monday of a mapping application that the company is calling its JavaScript to Dart Synonym app.

• What JavaScript's inventor really thinks about Google Dart

  By Paul Krill | 26 January, 2012 22:03

  Google's Dart language, which attempts to address JavaScript's supposed weaknesses, is getting a mixed reaction from the inventor of JavaScript itself, Brendan Eich.

• Node.js inventor extends JavaScript programming beyond browsers

  By Paul Krill | 26 January, 2012 00:32

  The open source project Node.js was invented by Joyent software engineer Ryan Dahl three years ago next month. It essentially allows JavaScript to be used outside of a browser. Node leverages Google's V8 JavaScript virtual machine to interpret JavaScript, and it uses an event-driven non-blocking I/O model that cloud services vendor Joyent -- a principal Node advocate -- says makes it ideal for data-intensive and real-time applications running across distributed devices. It is also championed by companies such as Microsoft and Mozilla.

• jQ.Mobi JavaScript framework boasts faster mobile apps

  By Paul Krill | 19 January, 2012 22:16

  JQ.Mobi, an HTML5-optimized rewriting of the JQuery JavaScript library, is available in a beta version as of this week for Android and Apple iOS software developers, with proponents citing dramatic speed improvements and size reduction.

• Google JavaScript library offers access to APIs

  By Paul Krill | 01 December, 2011 22:20

  Google this week began offering an alpha version of Google APIs Client Library for JavaScript, which provides access to HTTP-based APIs on the Web, as well as to many of Google's public APIs.

• First look: Google Dart vs. JavaScript

  By Peter Wayner | 23 November, 2011 22:17

  Let's begin with the good news. Google's Dart is a modern, full-featured tool designed by grabbing the best features of Java, JavaScript, and C.

• Google boosts garbage collection for Chrome browser

  By Paul Krill | 23 November, 2011 02:09

  Google is offering a new incremental garbage collector for its Chrome browser to "dramatically" improve the interactive performance of Web applications, the company said on Monday.