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PhoneGap Brings Cross Platform Development Back to Mobile Platforms
PhoneGap allows to build cross platform mobile apps with HTML5 and Javascript; it has APIs for accessing camera, accelerometer, GPS, etc. The code is packaged into native apps which can be deployed via app stores. PhoneGap support includes iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Symbian and Palm. InfoQ talked to one of the creators of PhoneGap, Brian LeRoux of Nitobi, about the current state of PhoneGap.
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MacRuby 0.5 Released, Debugger To Come in 0.6
MacRuby 0.5 has been released, with a new VM, AOT and JIT support. The GIL MacRuby inherited from Ruby 1.9 is now gone and Grand Central Dispatch support allows to keep a system's cores busy with Ruby threads. Work on the 0.6 release is already under way; a new debugger feature is already available in the trunk.
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Scala 2.8 Beta 1 Released
The long-awaited beta for the new Scala version 2.8 has finally been released. It includes many new features, like for example a redesigned collections library, named and default arguments, and a much improved Eclipse IDE.
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Dynamic Language Roundup: Python's GIL Gets Overhauled but not Removed, Squeak Comes to Android
The Unladen Swallow project that aims to speed up Python has proposed to be merged into mainstream Python. One of Unladen Swallow's goals was to remove the GIL; a new implementation of Python's GIL by Antoine Pitrou will be fairer and less intrusive on multicore CPUs. Also: Squeak Smalltalk has been ported to Android.
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Lua: Embeddable Scripting Engine, LuaJIT 2.0 Includes New High-Performance VM
Lua is a scripting language that can be embedded in any application that can provide hooks for its C API. Version 2.0 of its JIT compiler is in Beta and includes a completely re-written VM based on a trace compiler and an interpreter written in assembler.
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Ruby VM Roundup: 1.9.2 Gets DTrace Support, Rubinius 1.0 RC2 Adds Installers, IronRuby IDEs
Rubinius 1.0RC2 adds binary installers, while Ruby 1.9.2 will get DTrace support. IronRuby moves closer to 1.0 and SharpDevelop 3.1 gains IronRuby support. Also: WEBRick users should consider upgrading to the latest versions of Ruby 1.8.x and 1.9.1 because of a recently discovered vulnerability.
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Clojure 1.1 Adds Transients, Chunked Sequences for Efficiency
Clojure 1.1 RC1 is out and cuts the overhead of functional programming with a few new constructs: transients bring controlled mutability for persistent data structures; chunked sequences make lazy sequences more efficient. InfoQ takes a look at what makes these improvements work.
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Ruby 1.9.1 Update With Fix for Heap Overflow
Ruby 1.9.1-p376 is out, bringing with it an important fix for a heap overflow vulnerability, among many bug fixes for the 1.9.1 line.
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Rubinius 1.0 Brings MRI 1.8 Compatibility and Near Speed Parity
Rubinius has just released their first candidate for 1.0, bringing Ruby 1.8 compatibility and near speed parity. InfoQ talked to Evan Phoenix about what it took to get here and whether Rubinius will run Rails.
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JDK 7 Milestone 5 Includes Concurrency and Performance Updates, But Is Not Feature Complete
Sun's Java SE team recently released the Milestone 5 build of JDK 7. This was expected to be a feature complete release of Java 7 but is some way short of that. InfoQ takes a look at what has been added and some of the major features still missing.
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JRuby's New IR Paves the Way for Future Performance Improvements
A new intermediate representation (IR) for JRuby code enables many optimizations and could bring the next performance boost. InfoQ talked to Subbu Sastry who works on the IR.
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Evented I/O for Javascript with Google V8-based Node.js
Node.js allows scalable ѕtandalone Javascript server programs by bundling Google's V8 with libraries for event-based I/O. InfoQ takes a look at what makes Node.js tick.
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MagLev Ruby VM Now Available, Brings GemStone's Persistence to Ruby
The long awaited MagLev Ruby implementation, based on GemStone Smalltalk, is now available in a public alpha release. While not quite ready to run Rails, it does support frameworks like Rack and Sinatra. MagLev comes with full support for GemStone's mature distribution and persistence features.
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Ruby VM Roundup: MacRuby 0.5 Beta 2 Adds AOT Tooling, Rubinius 0.13 Released
Beta 2 of MacRuby 0.5 improves compatibility and adds new tools for Ahead of Time (AOT) compilation and building standalone applications. Rubinius 0.13 was released with improved performance using LLVM, a JIT and a new compiler.
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Duby and Surinx, an Interview With Charles Nutter
Charles Nutter talks about his two new languages for the JVM: Duby and its dynamic cousin Surinx.