The significant increase in productivity for Java-applications development

The Engine Yard Company has introduced a new version of its platform called JRuby 1.5. The new version empowers extension of Java-based applications using the popular Ruby language. In particular, the JRuby technology allows quick development of new interfaces for Java-applications to work in SOA (Service-Oriented Architecture) and WOA (Web Service Architecture). JRuby is an implementation of the Ruby development platform for Java. The language JRuby allows you to write only 20% of code compared to traditional Java applications development. It has a good integration with the most popular components of Java platform (integration with the core Java libraries, etc.). Moreover the JRuby 1.5 platform provides more efficient use of memory and processor.

During the five last months (the period of JRuby 1.5 development) about 30 volunteers made more than 1000 edits to improve the code. In fact, the main advantage of JRuby is the significant increase in productivity in the development of Java-based applications. In particular, java developers can now deploy Ruby code on the same server, using the same library as for the previous Java-based applications, but Ruby is fully integrated with the already working code and Java-applications using RIA development.

How RIA can give freedom of rapid application development

Professional portal development demands special knowledge of Flash, JavaScript, Java-applets and ActiveX-components. All these technologies are not supposed to complicate your life. But sometimes it’s not so easy to enrich user experience going beyond traditional tasks and at the same time ensure great results in a short space of time. On this point Rich Internet Application and RIA development offers revolutionary possibilities that combined in a single runtime environment.

What does it mean for users? It means “all in one” or integration of content, communications, user interface and a set of custom components and. Of course, all these units work in real time.

What does RIA mean for programmers? First and foremost it opens doors to Rapid Application Development or RAD. Developers use advantages of Ajax GWT programming and in the shortest possible time create new web portals based on reusable program components.

Beyond question, web is a dynamic, vibrant platform, where it is very important to reduce the time from birth of new ideas to their realization. That is why such RIA components as Ajax Toolkit will be in great demand. They allow to make fast and easy changes in new applications, giving developers what they want at this very moment for this very project.

Microsoft adds new features in Eclipse for PHP and Java developers

Eclipse Summit that was organized in Germany brought fresh news: Microsoft together with its partners Tasktop and Soyatec are going to release a range of tools and updates for Eclipse.

• Eclipse will support Windows 7 and all its new interface functions;
• Eclipse Standard Widget Toolkit (SWT) will be expanded to work with new features in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2;
• The open source tools Windows Azure Tools for Eclipse will be available for PHP developers;
• The open source Windows Azure Software Developer Kit (SDK) will be available for Java developers;
• The Eclipse Tools plug-in will be available for Silverlight.

So, Windows Azure SDK for Java allows leveraging Azure storage service while developing Java applications. Its logical architecture is quite simple:
It is reported that according to the voting (see The Open Source Developer Report 2009 based on Eclipse Community Survey), conducted among Eclipse users, more than 64% are using it in Windows OS. It’s obvious that PHP and Java programmers will appreciate this significant commitment from Microsoft.

The Challenge for Java Programmers. Check Your Skills!

Testing new Java programmers who want to work in Oxagile we use different methods: interviewing, multiple-choice questions etc. We think that “classical” approaches to recruiting should be combined with new breakthrough technologies.

Let’s take certification of Java programmers as an example. It is well known that many tests for certification contain a large number of issues with different variants of answers (so called multiple-choice questions). Such tests are not very effective, because probationers can easily find many answers concerning API reading documentation or source code. In this way we can’t test their ability to program, which largely consists of the ability to think logical and to formulate algorithms in a proper way.

So betterprogramming.com, the company from San Francisco, decided to fix this problem. Its specialists published test that offers to solve several problems instead of answering the list of questions. Java programmers expected to implement some simple algorithms. Source code, written by a developer can be executed on the server, and then user can get his/her results (they depend on submitted code and time).

14 technologies that won’t become obsolete before 2014: foundations of software development

The impact of recent changes in the world economy changed the situation in world of software. Now the majority of developers are focused on short-term work. But it doesn’t mean that they are careless about their prospects. Self-education and experience are still the only way to success. That is why it’s so important to be constantly analyzing existing technologies and methodologies trying to keep step with changeable IT- world, not wasting valuable time for unnecessary knowledge and superseded information.

So we will try to forecast the most essential skills for developers that won’t become obsolete in the next five-six years. In this and the next posts we will list 14 the most relevant technologies for software developers.

#1-3: Java, PHP, .NET

It’s highly unlikely that three foundations of software development, Java, PHP, .NET, will be in less demand in the near future. Developers need to know at least one of these programming languages and development platforms: Java, .NET (VB.NET or C #), or PHP. Nevertheless only one programming language syntax is not enough. Usually projects cover a wide range of different functions, so developers need to know the frameworks and libraries associated with the necessary functionality in more details.

to be continued…

DOLPHIN SMART COMMUNITY BUILDER

A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network software services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services.

YouTube, MySpace, Odeo, Flickr, Match and Facebook – all in one solution named ‘Dolphin smart community builder’. Developed for creating dating sites, social networks, content sharing portals.
Dolphin is absolutely free.

Dolphin is based on: PHP, MySQL, Ajax, JavaScript, Flash, Java.
Official site: http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/. Demo site: http://www.boonex.com/products/dolphin/doldemo/
Dolphin software contains most popular features peculiar to a common social network. Among them:

• Blog
• User profile
• Forum
• Audio/Video sharing
• Friends invitation
• Private messaging
• User groups
• Voting
• And much more

This solution is optimal for rapid start of your own social network (of course, if your goal is to get free solution).
There are many analogous solutions:

• Pligg
• PHPIzabi
• Elgg
• PHPFox
• Other

Also there are services for creating social networks.
Among them:

• Ning
• Kickapps

This software does not provide the source code (are not open source), they provide API. All interaction is held using XML and JSON. Solutions are not free.