Development Darlings Step Into The Spotlight

Still, the new hot-button issues today in application development revolve around the same theme: up-and-coming platforms, tools and technologies. The following five topics are generating a bunch of chatter among developers and software companies these days.

1. Web 2.0 Everywhere
"Web 2.0" mania has Silicon Valley enthusing about innovative development tools and approaches -- even as the term's vagueness leaves everyone free to bend the buzzword to fit their own pet projects. Mashups fusing functionality from stand-alone applications are making the long-heralded advantages of standards-based Web services a tangible reality.

Meanwhile, the profusion of freely available open-source bits of infrastructure software like the increasingly robust MySQL database, syndication tools such as RSS, flexible scripting languages, and open APIs have sparked a boom in application creation.

So far, the impact is most visible among consumer-focused hobby applications like photo site Flickr and tagging service del.icio.us. But as ever-more-powerful tools enable the idea that if you can dream it, you can build it, the effects of new approaches to application development will ripple beyond the Web 2.0 waters.

2. Rise Of Ruby On Rails & AJAX
New application development approaches require new tools. Developers are flocking to Ruby on Rails, an open-source framework tailored for designing Web applications. Older scripting languages like PHP are more widely used for Web development, but the Ruby language in conjunction with the two-year-old Rails framework (RoR to enthusiasts) is winning raves for its simplicity.

The other new development darling is AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML), the term coined last year to describe the bundle of techniques and technologies that let applications like Google Maps mimic the rich-client functionality of desktop software. The approach resonated. AJAX has spread like wildfire as developers use it to create smoother, faster and more elegant Web applications. A new industry consortium, Open AJAX, was formed in February to align dozens of vendors' AJAX tool projects.

3. Eclipse Dominates Among Java IDEs
Launched just four years ago, Eclipse has steamrolled much of its competition. It's now the most-used Java IDE, blowing past established rivals like Borland Software's Delphi and Sun Microsystems' NetBeans.

Eclipse's momentum is so strong that competitors are throwing themselves beneath the bandwagon's wheels. Borland, BEA Systems and Adobe Systems have all scrapped proprietary technology and rebuilt their development tools around Eclipse.