News

• Sencha Architect: Visual HTML5, sort of

  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.

• 1

  Review: AppMobi XDK brings more style than substance to iPhone, Android development

  Despite the gold-rush atmosphere around mobile application development, you won't find many newbie-friendly tools aligned to help nonprogrammers mine for application riches. Even if the target platforms often seem like toys, most of the development kits are still developer-minded and code-centric, and they can present formidable hurdles to the uninitiated.

• Review: Yahoo Mojito gives server-side JavaScript a lift

  From the beginning, programming for the Web has been divided into different camps. In the browser, there was always just one language -- JavaScript -- that dominated. But on the server, there have been dozens of candidates: Java, C#, Perl, Python, and countless others invented by people who weren't happy with the other choices. If you toss databases into the mix, there are several variants of SQL running the major platforms. It's a mess that drives programmers nuts.

• Eclipse readies browser-based IDE

  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.

• Cloud computing in 2012: An InfoWorld special report

  InfoWorld gives you the full scoop on the state of the cloud in 2012, including key trends in the cloud's technology and its job opportunities, as well as what you have to know about the cloud before developing for it.

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

  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.

• HTML5: An open standard to rule them all?

  Although vendor-written, this contributed piece does not advocate a position that is particular to the author's employer and has been edited and approved by Network World editors.

• Programming Opa: Web development, reimagined

  Building a Web application today means using a variety of different software technologies, each executing in a different domain. JavaScript, HTML, and CSS in the browser; PHP, Python, Java, Ruby, or the like on the server; MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, MongoDB, or any of a growing list of database servers as your persistent storage back-end. With Opa, an open source Web development technology from the French company MLstate, building a Web application tomorrow could be much more straightforward -- and safer.

• Google JavaScript library offers access to APIs

  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

  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.

• Beyond jQuery: JavaScript tools for the HTML5 generation

  Over drinks, one person proclaimed, "No one programs in JavaScript, they just string together jQuery calls." This statement is certainly not true, but like a hand grenade, it gets close enough to make its point.

• Google adds new access, analysis to Web performance tool

  Google is upgrading on Thursday its tool for analyzing Web page performance, making it available directly via the Web and offering smartphone page analysis.

• Bankwest launches new website, iPhone app

  Bankwest's revamped website will take advantage of crowd-sourcing with user-generated comparisons and a range of new online-shopping inspired functions designed to reflect a more retail, customer-centric perspective.

• HTML5 specification needs to be simplified: Developer

  The HTML5 Web development specification needs to be simplified in order to foster adoption across the industry, a developer has warned.

• 1

  Startup preps Web-based prototyping service

  A new service that allows drag-and-drop prototyping for Web applications is due for release next month and promises to streamline project management by displaying the desired result in real-time.