Google adds Java support to App Engine

Google believes developers will be 'ecstatic' about Java support

Google has announced Java support for its App Engine developer toolkit.

The App Engine platform lets developers build and host web applications on Google's infrastructure. It now supports a number of Java standards, including the Java Servlet API, Java Data Objects, Java Persistence API, javax.cache and javax.mail.

"When App Engine launched publicly, we were excited to see that Java language support was the first and the most popular request filed in the Issue Tracker," App Engine software engineers Don Schwarz and Toby Reyelts noted in a blog post.

"We wanted to give developers something that they could be ecstatic about, but we knew we would have to marry the simplicity of Google App Engine with the power and flexibility of the Java platform."

The first 1,000 developers to register an interest will get access to the toolkit. Schwarz and Reyelts said the early testers would help Google iron out any rough edges before a full release.

"There is a vast amount of Java code out there, much of it written without consideration of sandboxing, and we can't test it all. We know that there will be some rough edges when it comes to compatibility, but we're looking forward to working with you to smooth those out," they explained.

Google also announced a few other updates to the service, including policy-controlled access to the data firewall, extended Cron support and new database tools.