It’s only Wednesday, but it’s already been a huge week for Salesforce. The company is hosting its Dreamforce conference, and has already introduced a free version of its "Facebook for the Enterprise" Chatter product, and launched Database.com to go head to head in the Database space with Oracle. 

A Flash Development Center opened on the Yahoo Developer Network with a variety of resources for ActionScript 2 and 3 application builders.

A lesson to corporate types: it’s good to catalyze conversations by sending out free stuff, but only if you’re pretty sure you’re already best of breed.

The two developers working on JRuby, a project to enable Ruby on the Java Virtual Machine, now work for Sun Microsystems.

The SDK from Adobe combines the Ruby on Rails rich Internet application (RIA) framework with the Flex 2 technology and tools for web developers.

I’ve been programming (when I do program) mainly in Perl for the last 10 years or so. But I’ve been itching to learn a new language for a while now, and the two near the top of the list are Ruby and Python.

New software called “Ruby In Steel” is set to come out later this year; according to its makers, it will “provide an easy, accessible Ruby coding environment for [Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005] users.” One version, a “personal edition,” will be free. A “developer edition incorporating more advanced features” will sell for an unknown amount.

Now that “From Java To Ruby,” the most recent book from author Bruce Tate, has debuted, one observer thinks it could be read as “From Java To ColdFusion” instead.

When we left off with Mac OS X Ruby on Rails, I had Rails up and running but had not a clue as to where to go from there.

I’ve been ignoring Ruby on Rails for a while now. Oh, I knew I’d have to look at it sooner or later, but you know the old saying about old dogs and new tricks.

Although the Java programming language will endure, the Java EE framework may be deader than a doornail by 2010.

Ruby on Rails has increased in popularity among web developers seeking a solid framework for their applications, and some helpful hints can make it even better.

JavaServer Pages has been in the web developer arsenal for several years, but “Ruby on Rails” author Bruce Tate thinks Ruby may offer a better approach to web page development.

Thanks to the nature of open source, almost anyone can write a programming language and get a significant number of people to use it: and plenty of people have.

Jeffrey McManus, now an evangelist at Yahoo, replies to the eWeek article I posted earlier: Microsoft and VCs.