Some years ago I did some behind-the-scenes editing for a tech site that published a lot of Java how-tos, and they were real sticklers about the conforming to Sun’s trademark diktats, no matter how asinine I or the other editors found them. Chief among these rules: Java must never be used as a noun, only as an adjective modifying other. Thus, code was not written in Java, but written in “the Java language.” If we wanted to talk about the whole complex of concepts that fell under the Java label we had to use the hated (by me, anyway) kludge of “the Java platform.” Thus, I sort of have this knee-jerk reaction to the word “platform” in the tech realm — I see it as an irritating buzzword — and so I sometimes forget that Java really is a platform, in the sense that you can build things on it.As 2010 starts, there are a couple of interesting developments that remind us what a solid platform is, in the sense that people just sort of take it for granted and extend it. Google has released the Google Collections Library, which introduces a series of utility functions that make it easier to write Java code; it’s been honed over the years in a variety of Google’s core applications, including AdWords and GMail. The purists will grouse that the simplicity in coding masks underlying complexity, but as Java becomes more of a utility, you’ll see more and more people who just want to write it fast and be done with it.Then there’s Groovy, itself build on the Java platform; SpringSource just released the latest version, which now plays even nicer with other Java code. In fact, as Java moves to support the closures pioneered in languages like Groovy, Groovy is now supporting anonymous inner classes — the better to integrate with its parent language. Both these moves say to me that everyone is assuming Java as part of the computing landscape — not necessarily the most exciting or dynamic part, but something that needs to be accommodated, and built upon, all the same. Technology Industry