Developers interested in using Java to build serverless apps using Microsoft Azure Functions will now have that option, Microsoft plans to announce Wednesday at JavaOne.
One of the most requested features among developers using Azure functions to build serverless apps — lightweight flexible apps built around functions that execute after being triggered by events — was support for Java, Nir Mashkowski, partner director program management for Azure App Service and Azure Functions, said in a blog post scheduled to go live Wednesday morning. The capability will be released as a public preview, he said.
Right now, you can build functions in Azure using several languages, including C#, Javascript, F#, Python, Node.js, and PHP. But Java is still the most widely used programming language in the world, with more than 12 million developers using the technology and over 21 billion Java virtual machines running in various cloud-computing scenarios, according to Oracle.
As serverless development gains traction thanks to its mixture of engineer and accountant-friendly characteristics, developers are going to want to use their preferred languages to get on board. Microsoft isn’t ready to talk about it yet, but expect Azure Functions support for other languages in the future.
(Editor’s note: This post was updated to clarify which languages can already be used to create Azure Functions.)
