Google releases Closure developer tools

Google's Closure developer tools help users to build applications written in JavaScript

Google has released an open-source bundle containing several of its in-house developer tools.

The company said that it will release versions of its Closure developer tools to the public to help spur the growth of web-based applications. Each of the tools helps users manage and build applications written in JavaScript.

Among the three tools being released include the Closure Compiler, which allows developers to check, optimise and compile JavaScript, as well as a Closure Inspector plug in to help check and debug code.

Also being released to the public will be the Closure Library collection of code snippets and components for building JavaScript applications. Additionally, Google is posting a set of Closure Templates to further offer developers a code base for creating interfaces.

Google said that it has been using its in-house version of Closure for years to create its web applications, including Gmail, Google Maps and Google Docs. The company hopes that the release of the tools will help further the development of web applications.

"Like developers everywhere, Googlers want great web apps to be easier to create, so we've built many tools to help us develop these (and many other) apps," the company said in a posting to the Google code blog.

"We are happy to announce the open sourcing of these tools, and proud to make them available to the web development community."