News

RethinkDB Releases Java Client Driver

• By John K. Waters
• December 9, 2015

Makers of the RethinkDB distributed JSON database today released a new Java client driver, the company announced. The client driver is a library that implements RethinkDB's ReQL query language and provides the support needed to connect Java applications to a RethinkDB cluster. Java developers will now be able use RethinkDB to build real-time Web applications that perform queries and receive live updates as the output changes.

"Most databases require you to poll the data if you want to stay updated on query results," said company co-founder Michael Glukhovsky. "In RethinkDB you can open a stream on any query and the database will push updates to you. RethinkDB is the first distributed database that pushes data out."

RethinkDB provides support for Python, Ruby, and JavaScript development. The Java client driver was one of the most requested upgrades by the open-source RethinkDB community, Glukhovsky told ADTmag. That's due, at least in part, to the growing interest in reactive and event-driven programming among Java developers, he said.

"If you look at tools that emerging on the Java landscape, you'll see things like Vert.x, which is a front-end framework that's designed for building reactive applications," he said. "You also have things like RxJava, from Netflix, which is part of this greater effort around Reactive Extensions, it's a compelling way of working with these fundamental data structures that allow you to think of data as reactive streams updating in real time. RethinkDB pairs very well with these technologies, so you have data that's flowing from database to front end."

RethinkDB developer Ryan Paul expanded on this idea in a blog post announcing the new driver. "We think that RethinkDB's approach to data persistence and real-time application development -- pushing live updates to the front-end -- are a great fit for Java as developers chart the frontiers of these emerging trends," he wrote. Paul added that the new Java client driver could "unlock support for the vibrant ecosystem of other languages that target the Java virtual machine. Our native client driver will serve as a starting point for developers who want to use RethinkDB in other popular [JVM] languages like Scala, Clojure, and Groovy."

"The JVM is an amazing runtime engine, and there are a ton of exciting languages being built on it nowadays," Glukhovsky. "This offers a great jumping off point for all those newer languages, so it was a great choice to support next."

The Mountain View, Calif.-based company was founded in 2009 by Glukhovsky and CEO Slava Akhmechet. A small team worked on the database for several years, and then the company open sourced it about a two years ago on GitHub. Information about installing the new RethinkDB Java client driver is available on the company's Web site.