SproutCore 2.0 becomes Ember.js

Ember.js is the new name for the SproutCore 2.0 JavaScript framework. SproutCore 2.0 is now an independent development of the SproutCore 1.0 widget library. SproutCore 2.0 is focussed on the underlying architecture of JavaScript applications and looks to eliminate boiler plate code and make it easier to create MVC applications without complex code. SproutCore 1.0 included both a powerful observer framework and its widgets library, and Yehuda Katz set out, with Tom Dale, to extract this latter component and unite it with an auto-updating template system.

But the similarity of the name and difference in concept and goals led to some confusion in forums and other discussion venues and so the developers decided to rename SproutCore 2.0 as Amber.js. This was, though, a short lived move, as it was pointed out that Amber is also the name of a Smalltalk implementation that runs on JavaScript. The developers decided to change name again to avoid even more confusion and have now settled on the name Ember. A project site is now online with examples of bindings, computed properties, autoupdating templates and other features of Ember.js.

SproutCore was developed by Strobe, which was acquired by Facebook in November. Katz and Dale were both part of the development team and had left Strobe in October to form Tilde, Inc., a company focussed on what is now Ember.js.

(djwm)