New Berkeley DB
Oracle has unveiled its Berkeley DB Java Edition 3.0, the first major release in three years of the pure Java embeddable database. Key features in the package include more flexibility for application performance optimization, improved efficiency for hot backup of large databases, and additional support for complex object models. A new Persistence API adds a built-in Plain Old Java Object (POJO)-style object storage model, which provides support for complex object models. A new deferred-write database mode enables pure in-memory operation and gives developers greater flexibility in prioritizing database performance. The deferred-write mode is ideal for situations involving temporary databases, batch updates, or other instances where database speed is critical to success. www.oracle.com
Engage
Conscientia recently introduced Engage, a collaborative-requirements discovery tool that allows all stakeholders in a software-development lifecycle to communicate. According to Conscientia, Engage replaces bug trackers for managing ideas from customers, providing instead a space for an entire team to stay on top of a product plan via blogs, feature ratings, and roadmap definition. Engage is available as an ASP or internally managed. www.conscientiainc.com
ImageGear for .NET
AccuSoft has released an updated version of ImageGear for .NET for developing ASP.NET-based imaging applications. Using this toolkit, you can create multiple applications on .NET using 100-percent managed code. ImageGear for .NET also features flexible annotation marks and the ability to import/export these marks to XML files. PDF support has been enhanced to provide PDF security measures, layer editing, and editing of elements such as text, image, and metadata. Other enhancements include CAD/vector support, a new download manager for URL filestreams, support for Motion JPEG20g (MJ2) files, OCR/Barcode capabilities, and color reduction. In addition, reading/writing of JPEG2000 images is supported. www.accusoft.com
Quest
Quest Software has released Toad for MySQL 2.0. The tool, which is available at no charge, provides: version control integration, which lets you quickly check-in/check-out code from within the editor; database security to permit/restrict user access to specific features of Toad; and macro record/playback that gives you the ability to record and playback keyboard commands. www.quest.com/toad_for_mysql
UndoDB
Undo Software has unveiled UndoDB, a bidirectional debugger for Linux—the first bidirectional debugger for compiled programs, in fact. A bidirectional debugger lets you run a program backwards in time as well as forwards. The program can be stepped back line-by-line, or rewound to any point in its history. Furthermore, you can play the program forwards/backwards in a totally repeatable fashion, honing in on the cause of a bug. UndoDB uniquely enables bidirectional debugging of arbitrary Linux binary programs, including those written in C/C++. UndoDB requires no recompilation or other modifications to the program being debugged, nor does it require any specialized hardware, kernel patches, or kernel modules. www.undo-software.com
Eclipse
The Eclipse Foundation has announced the creation of a new top-level project, called the Eclipse Modeling Project. The project will focus on the evolution and promotion of open standards related to model-based development technologies within the Eclipse community. A number of industry-leading organizations have committed to the project and are already using Eclipse-based modeling frameworks in their products, including Borland, Compuware, IBM, ILOG, Omondo, and Oracle. The goal of the top-level Eclipse Modeling Project is to unite several existing projects relating to modeling under one umbrella for the purposes of fostering collaboration, unifying direction, and improving interoperability. www.eclipse.org
Google has released its Google Web Toolkit, a Java software-development framework for writing AJAX applications. With the Google Web Toolkit, you can develop and debug AJAX applications in Java using the Java tools of your choice. When deploying your application to production, the GWT compiler translates the Java app to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML. http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/
