JavaScript application framework SproutCore 1.0 arrives

The SproutCore developers have announced the availability of version 1.0 of their JavaScript-based, client-side, web application framework. SproutCore was created in 2007 by Sprout Systems for their own Mailroom application, but has since been released as open source under an MIT licence. Among the users of SproutCore are Apple, in their MobileMe and iWork.com services, and Mozilla, in the Bespin online IDE.

SproutCore is server agnostic, focussing on eliminating latency in user interfaces by allowing JavaScript applications running in the browser to be more self contained. SproutCore applications are able to call back to any web server and server applications written in any language, though for convenience, the library is available packaged as a Ruby Gem.

According to the developers, the 1.0 release took around 18 months of work and involved the rewriting of over 20,000 lines of code and the addition of 6,000 unit tests. Performance was the focus of the 1.0 development and version 1.0 is now described as a "performance beast". The developers recommend SproutCore 1.0 to anyone who has considered SproutCore, but was waiting for it to be more mature.

The next release of SproutCore will benefit from the work done in 1.0 which has laid down the groundwork for new features. Version 1.5 "(or whatever it's called)", will probably be available in the summer.

(djwm)