IBM Open Sources Its EGL Technology

On December 8 2011, IBM open sourced their Enterprise Generation Language (EGL) technology and has donated the technology to the Eclipse Foundation.  Here is the developerWorks blog announcement, “The open era for EGL begins today”.  See the new Eclipse EGL Development Tools page.  Prior to the new Eclipse EGL project, EGL was released as the Eclipse-based Rational Business Developer suite.


EGL (Enterprise Generation Language) is a high level, modern business oriented programming language, designed by IBM to be platform independent. EGL is similar in syntax to other common languages so it can be learned by application developers with similar previous programming background. EGL application development abstractions shield programmers from the technical interfaces of systems and middleware allowing them to focus on building business functionality. EGL applications and services are written, tested and debugged at the EGL source level, and once they are satisfactorily functionally tested they can be compiled into COBOL, Java, or JavaScript code to support deployment of business applications that can run in any of the following environments:

• Microsoft Windows, Linux, UNIX running JVM, for example in the context of a Java EE servlet container (IBM WebSphere Application Server,Apache Tomcat, GlassFish)
• IBM System z: CICS Transaction Server, IMS, z/OS Batch, UNIX System Services, WebSphere Application Server, z/VSE, Linux
• IBM System i: IBM i5/OS, IBM WebSphere Application Server, Apache Tomcat
• Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari browsers for Ajax rich web applications

 This is a welcome tool addition to the continuously evolving open source Eclipse ecosystem.