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Bringing Real-Time AJAX Development to Java Developers
Betting on Java for AJAX
Feb. 25, 2008 04:00 PM
Each day as an AJAX developer seems to bring another helpful revelation: a new tool, a new gadget, a new way to reinvent the browser. But even when I'm confronted with a breakthrough as big as Firebug - the brilliant debugging tool for Firefox - in the back of my mind I'm reminded that the AJAX state-of-the-art is trailing behind the debugging tools that we've had in Java for years. With age comes maturity, and with Java's maturity has come a wealth of development environments, field-tested frameworks, and a rich set of strongly typed APIs.
In my current company, we all share a background in enterprise Web development. Our primary goal has always been to take the most innovative user interface technologies and massage them into a form that new programmers can feel comfortable with, no matter the underlying platform. Although I have significant experience in both Java and AJAX client development, I'm reluctant giving up the maturity of the former just to achieve the pervasive reach of the latter.
About Brian AlbersBrian Albers has over 11 years of experience in the field of user interface technologies. Prior to joining Kaazing, Brian worked as Senior Development Manager at Oracle, where he led the planning and designing of the next generation of Oracle's UI technology, an effort publicly known as ADF Faces. During his 10 year tenure at Oracle, Brian worked primarily on mixing cutting-edge technology with large enterprise demands (internationalization, accessibility, scalability). He proposed the open source donation of ADF Faces, which ultimately became the Apache MyFaces Trinidad project. Brian led a cross-team effort to develop a DHTML rich client and a mobile client presentation layer for Oracle's upcoming Project Fusion.
In his career, Brian has focused on simplifying complex UI programming models for widespread use, while maintaining backwards compatibility and keeping future flexibility, which now pays dividends in Oracle's effort to move older technologies to it's Fusion stack. Brian received a BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas, Austin, and a BA degree in Plan II Honors from the University of Texas, Austin.