Cool cloud stuff for Java programmers

  • Article

The Azure team has been adding new resources and features to make it easier to use put your Java code in the cloud

It still seems weird to be writing about Java on a Microsoft blog. I guess times have changed. Not only can you write Windows 8 apps with Javascript and HTML, you can also find some great new resources to help you put your Java out in the cloud using Windows Azure. Windows Azure is Microsoft’s cloud offering, and every time I turn around it seems like they’ve added more new features and capabilities.

If you are a Java programmer and are thinking it’s time to move some of the code to the cloud, either because you want to access it from mobile apps, or because you want to start up a small business but you don’t want to go buy multiple servers to set up redundancy and backups, or maybe like an unnamed student I know, you discovered your internet provider doesn’t take kindly to you hosting from your basement.  There are lots of reasons to have Azure host your code, that’s not the point of this post, I want to show you some of the resources to help Java programmers specifically use Azure.

Where do I get all the details?

Your first stop should be the Windows Azure Java Developer Center, you’ll find information about developing and deploying Java apps on Windows Azure. I’ll highlight a couple of the resources in this blog, but there is a lot more at the developer center.

How do I put a VM running Java in the cloud?

If that’s what you want to do there are a couple of useful tutorials to help you learn how to do it on Azure. The tutorials will help you set up a VM, configure to run your code and move your code to the cloud. By the way, No, the VM doesn’t have to be Windows Server. Yes, you can use Linux! Check out these tutorials for more info.

What SDKs are there to help me?

Take your pick, we have three SDKs you can download here

  • Windows
  • Mac
  • Linux

There’s also a good blog post on the Windows Azure team blog highlighting some of the new features for Java in Azure including some updates to the plugin for Eclipse and some authentication updates.

I just typed the words Mac, and Java in a blog on a Microsoft site, weird. Well, as a programmer I have always been a big fan of software that gives me choices and lets me choose how I want to do something, so personally I like this trend. The programming divide just got a little smaller.