In a new article NetBeans, Solaris, GlassFish: The Ruby's Red Slippers Fit just up on java.sun.com, yours truly covers the Ruby/JRuby landscape. I got to adventure into new territory and learn a bit about Ruby and accompanying technologies that share some of Ruby's glitter. Those who have not wandered in Ruby land might take a look -- a lot is happening.

* The TIOBE Programming Community index which gives an indication of the popularity of programming languages, ranks Ruby 10th in popularity with 2.66% of programmers.

* As is well known, much of Ruby’s recent growth is tied to the popularity of the open source Ruby on
Rails framework, known as “Rails,” which is used for database-backed web applications based on the Model-View-Control pattern. Rails empowers web site construction by analyzing database structures, comprehending table relationships, and automatically creating object-relational mapping code. Rails fits the new Web 2.0 framework nicely and is popular among younger developers.

* Sun is making Ruby and Rails faster and enhancing functionality through JRuby which allows Ruby to enter enterprises where Ruby and/or Rails have never entered as Ruby developers gain access to the Java APIs and the Java community.

* Support from NetBeans, Solaris, GlassFish and more makes for a complete develop and deploy environment.

* Finally, as other applications and languages evolve, Sun is very open to enhancing their value through the flexibility, interoperability, and sheer power of the Java platform.