Google opens Java-soaked cloud to world+dog

App Engine sans Python

By Cade Metz, 27th May 2009

Google I/O Google's Java-fied App Engine is now open to world+dog.

In early April, the company added the Java runtime to its App Engine - a (semi-)free service that lets you build and host web apps on Google's very own ~~cloud~~ distributed infrastructure - but it was only available to 10,000 of the web's most eager Java coders.

Today, at the Google I/O developer conference in downtown San Francisco, Google technical lead Kevin Gibbs announced that App Engine is now accepting Java sign-ups from anyone.

When App Engine was first introduced last year, it limited app development to Python, but according to the company, countless coders cried for Java support as well. The service's new incarnation runs version 1.6 of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), so it can also handle code written in such languages as Ruby on Rails and JavaScript as well.

Where possible, Google has wrapped its App Engine APIs in such standards as the Java Servlet API, JDO and JPA, javax.cache, and javax.mail. Plus, Google has made a few non-Java changes to the existing service. You can now grant access to data behind your firewall. You can set up so-called "cron jobs," tasks scheduled to operate at particular times. And you can import data from existing database.

According to Gibbs, more than 200,000 developers have registered for App Engine over the past year and change. ®

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