San Jose based 4D has beta launched its Wakanda open source end-to-end JavaScript platform dedicated to developing and deploying web apps from the cloud on all types of desktop and touch interfaces.
Named after an American Indian tribe hailing from the Omaha region, Wakanda is based on JavaScript, the latest web standards (HTML5, CSS3, etc.), and what its makers describe as "the direct manipulation of business logic."
After three years of research and development, Wakanda has spent several months in a private test phase with a panel of 50 early users and experts from various technological backgrounds.
Laurent Ribardière, president, founder, and CTO of 4D explains, "In light of the rapid growth of languages and components that one must master to create data-driven business applications usable on desktops, smartphones, and tablets, we sought to offer a new, simpler, and more productive approach. This project leverages our technological know-how and in-depth understanding of the needs of this market."
Speaking to technology website IT Wire, 4D managing director for the Australasia region Damon Carle has said that the product's emphasis is on the rapid development of web applications that have a rich interface and are easy to maintain. The benefit for developers is reducing the time and lowering the cost of developing and supporting web applications by using just JavaScript.
IT Wire journalist Peter Dinham further quotes 4D's Carle as saying, "We've released this first public version to invite developers to check it out, to be critical, alert us of the faults, and make suggestions for its evolution into a finished product. Every newborn needs a family, so we encourage developers to participate in the forum and eventually in the open source community we hope to build around Wakanda as the project continues its development."
