Sun Microsystems and the NetBeans community announced the availability of NetBeans 6.1 integrated development environment (IDE) Beta. NetBeans 6.1 Beta adds a rich set of features for JavaScript technology development, a key component for delivering AJAX web applications and tighter integration of MySQL database functionality.

The NetBeans 6.1 IDE Beta is available now via download.

The JavaScript technology support is based on the dynamic language support added for Ruby and includes: semantic highlighting, code completion, type analysis, quick fixes, semantic checks and refactoring. It also includes a browser compatibility feature that makes it easy to create JavaScript software code that works in the popular Mozilla Firefox, Windows Internet Explorer, Opera and Safari Web browsers.

Sun's commitment to dynamic languages has expanded with the recent hiring of Python and Jython developers, Ted Leung and Frank Wierzbicki, respectively. Leung and Wierzbicki join other technologists, such as Ian Murdock, Charles Nutter, Thomas Enebo, and Nick Kew who have recently joined Sun to pursue open source project development and community activities.

"Since the release of NetBeans 4.0 IDE, momentum and adoption has been phenomenal with more than 9.3 million downloads during the past two years," said Jim Parkinson, vice president of Tools and Services at Sun. â??With NetBeans 6.1 IDE, we expect adoption rates to continue to go through the roof especially with the new JavaScript software functionality and the tighter integration work taking place with the MySQL database. This release of NetBeans IDE exemplifies the innovation and success of the open source initiatives at Sun."

Other highlights of NetBeans 6.1 IDE Beta include:

• Performance enhancements including faster startup and code completion
• Spring framework support with features such as configuration file support, code completion and hyperlinks to speed navigation
• New MySQL support in the Database Explorer to make it easier to create, launch and view MySQL databases
• Significant enhancements to the Ruby/JRuby support, including a new Ruby platform manager, support for the latest version of Rails and new hints and quick fixes in the editor
• Beta support for the ClearCase version control system- made available as a plugin from the Update Center