'Xen' programming language unites C#, XML and SQL programming languages.

Microsoft Research (MSR) has been dabbling with a number of new programming languages and paradigms. Last year, the F# language was big news. Now, another Microsoft Research byproduct, a language called "Xen," is slowly gaining traction.

There are a few pieces of information on Xen floating around the Web. Some characterize Xen as "the hypothetical extension of C#." Others describe Xen as an amalgamation of Microsoft's Common Language Runtime (CLR), XML and SQL programming language.

C#, the brainchild of Anders Hejlsberg, a Microsoft distinguished engineer and chief C# language architect, is considered by many as Microsoft's alternative to Java.

For More Details on Xen, See ExtremeTech's Xen Explainer Here

Microsoft presented a paper on Xen the XML 2003 conference in Philadelphia in December. Microsoft Weblogger Dare Obasanjo provided some notes about the presentation.

"The main thesis of the paper was that heavily used APIs (application programming interfaces) and programming idioms eventually tend to be likely candidates for including into the language," explained Obasanjo.

MSR is collaborating with the University of Cambridge U.K. on Xen. Additionally, Erik Meijer, a technical lead with Microsoft's WebData group, is part of the Xen project.

On his Web page, Meijer gives a glimpse into Xen.

"I am currently working on language and type-system support for bridging the worlds of object-oriented (CLR), relational (SQL), and hierarchical (XML) data, and of course first class functions," explains Meijer.

As with all MSR projects, there is no guarantee how, when or even if they will be commercialized. Microsoft did not respond to a request for information on its plans for Xen.

While Microsoft will be updating C# later this year as part of its overall "Whidbey" Visual Studio update, it doesn't appear that any elements of Xen will be part of the new tool suite. Microsoft has said that the Whidbey Visual Studio release will be delivered before the end of calendar 2004.

(This is an updated version of an article that appeared in the January 8, 2004, issue of the Microsoft Watch newsletter.)

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