Release Candidate Delivers Enhanced Ruby Compatibility for Java Developers Programming in Ruby Plus Improved Windows support
SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 11, 2011 – Engine Yard, the leading cloud computing Platform-as-a-Service for Ruby on Rails, today celebrated availability of the JRuby 1.6 release candidate. JRuby, a Java implementation of the Ruby programming language, is a popular open source package that delivers the full Ruby language on the Java platform (JVM).
Both enterprises and fast-growing web companies continue to choose Ruby because it provides significant productivity gains. The latest release candidate makes it even easier for developers to build applications faster by integrating with existing Java code and applications or creating entirely new applications. These Ruby apps can be deployed anywhere that Java applications are deployed, including application servers, Android mobile devices, and enterprise desktop environments such as Windows.
“JRuby has been a great help to LinkedIn with rapid application development by allowing us to leverage our existing Java libraries right in a Rails or Sinatra application,” said Jon Bettcher, Senior Software Engineer at LinkedIn. “In one instance, JRuby saved nearly a week of development effort by not having to port a proprietary library over to native Ruby code. That’s a huge win for development velocity, code reuse and developer sanity.”
“We chose JRuby to build production applications for our Fortune 500 customers, such as Cisco, because of the stability and access to existing Java libraries and resources,” said Dylan Stamat, CTO of ELC Technologies. “Using JRuby, we’ve saved hundreds to thousands of hours by leveraging existing infrastructure, monitoring tools, and developer experience. JRuby allows for rapid test driven development, and we end up with 75% less code to manage versus using Java. Plus, we can offer our customers added value and peace of mind with the Engine Yard JRuby commercial support offering.”
The JRuby core contributors, including Charles Nutter, Thomas Enebo, and Nick Sieger who work at Engine Yard, along with the entire community of JRuby contributors, over 45 developers, contributed more than 2,000 individual commits to complete JRuby 1.6 RC. Key features in JRuby 1.6 RC include: * Ruby 1.9 compatibility - JRuby continues to track the latest version of Ruby, 1.9.2. JRuby 1.6 promises improved compatibility for most 1.9 applications including support for the new encoding APIs. * Increased performance for Ruby code - JRuby 1.6 incorporates many incremental performance improvements, including faster standard libraries from Ruby 1.9, while also laying the groundwork for future development. * Improved Windows support - JRuby 1.6 delivers another round of improvements including built-in support for WIN32OLE and other compatibility fixes that make any Ruby application run as seamlessly on Windows as on any other platform.
“We’ve improved Windows support to be even better in this release which will increase the number of developers who can use JRuby and make it more accessible for enterprise developers,” said Charles Nutter, co-lead of the JRuby core team at Engine Yard. “With a record number of external contributors to JRuby this year, we’re looking forward to working with the growing community to help us enhance JRuby and build production applications.”
For a full description of all the features and bug fixes in JRuby 1.6, or to download JRuby, visit: http://jruby.org
JRuby Commercial Support
Engine Yard delivers commercial JRuby support, which benefits organizations using both Java and Ruby by providing direct access to the Ruby, Rails and JRuby experts at Engine Yard. This service allows all JRuby users to get assistance with building JRuby applications and learning more about the Ruby language. The most recent version of JRuby is covered as well as several libraries and bundled components. For more information on Engine Yard JRuby Commercial Support, visit http://www.engineyard.com/support/jruby
About Engine Yard Engine Yard is the leading provider of automation technologies and services for Ruby on Rails, including AppCloud and xCloud, Engine Yard’s Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) products for web developers and web teams. Engine Yard products provide easy-to-use, automated Rails application deployment and management with a design philosophy that allows for the migration of existing applications. Engine Yard helps development teams realize productivity gains and cost savings by eliminating the operational overhead caused by application deployment issues and managing complex infrastructures. A significant contributor to the advancement of Open Source projects, Engine Yard employs top industry experts and sponsors or directly contributes to many projects such as Ruby on Rails, JRuby, Rubinius, and fog Headquartered in San Francisco, Calif., Engine Yard is backed by Benchmark Capital, New Enterprise Associates, and Amazon.com.
Media Contact Horn Group for Engine Yard Melissa Hick mhick@horngroup.com (415) 905-4028
