2024 Issue #6 - Tuesday, December 10

Not a subscriber yet? Sign up here.

Unveiling the Best of Ballerina: A year-end recap

As we close out an incredible year, let's take a moment to reflect on the remarkable milestones and achievements that defined Ballerina's journey in 2024.

Ballerina enhancements

In 2024, Ballerina introduced several impactful updates, further solidifying its reputation as a versatile and robust platform for integration development. Highlights include:

AI-assisted data mapping: Powered by OpenAI, enabling faster, more accurate mapping of data fields while reducing manual effort and errors.

Quantum-safe crypto algorithms: To enhance data security against potential threats from quantum computing. Developers can leverage algorithms like ML-KEM-768 and ML-DSA65 for secure encryption and digital signing.

Bal persist: Bal persist greatly simplifies interactions with data stores by allowing Ballerina developers to work with usual Ballerina records for data access.

Improved JSON and XML handling: Developers can now navigate JSON data in Ballerina using JSONPath expressions.

OpenAPI Tool: Ballerina Swan Lake Update 10 introduces major enhancements to the OpenAPI tool, enabling a contract-first approach to service design. By generating service contract types from OpenAPI specifications, it ensures contract compliance and cleaner, more maintainable codebases.

Community highlights

This year, our developer relations team actively expanded Ballerina's footprint through impactful initiatives.

Student engagement programs

We hosted over 20 global events, including lectures, webinars, hackathons, and workshops, to introduce tertiary students to Ballerina's potential in integration and software development. These also included hosting several academic workshops across universities in India, engaging with over 5000 students, and exploring the development of cloud native applications using Ballerina and Choreo.

Hackathons and coding challenges

This year, we hosted several standout events to showcase Ballerina's capabilities:

• At Hacktoberfest 2024, we received over 100 contributions, spanning code and low-code/no-code submissions, highlighting Ballerina's flexibility.
• The Innovate with Ballerina Idea Hackathon, organized by the IEEE Student Branch at the University of Moratuwa and sponsored by WSO2, drew 1,800+ students from 20+ Sri Lankan universities. Participants delivered innovative projects built using Ballerina.​
• ​We also hosted our first hackathon in Namibia, held in collaboration with the Namibia University of Science and Technology. This event engaged hundreds of participants and underscored Ballerina's strengths in open source development.

These initiatives demonstrated the growing global enthusiasm for Ballerina in coding and integration challenges.

Open source initiatives

We continued to foster collaboration and innovation within the Ballerina open source community, reinforcing our commitment to empowering developers worldwide.

Ambassador program

Launched in 2024, this program invites passionate developers to represent Ballerina globally. Applications are still open, with implementation slated for 2025. Find out how you can get involved here.

Ballerina at WSO2Con 2024

WSO2Con 2024, held in Hollywood, Florida, was a dynamic 3-day event featuring keynotes, tutorials, and sessions on API management, integration, identity and access management, and cloud native development.

On day one of the conference, our team provided hands-on tutorials on integrating REST APIs, designing GraphQL services, and leveraging Ballerina for data integration. Day two featured insightful sessions, including Sameera Jayasoma discussing why Ballerina is ideal for integration, Chathura Ekanayake showcasing how to modernize legacy systems, and Bennett Reddin showcasing how VisualizeHR uses Ballerina for cloud data platform architecture.

You can now watch the recordings and view the slides for all sessions at WSO2Con 2024.

March 18-20 | Barcelona, Spain Ballerina will be back at WSO2Con 2025 from March 18-20 in Barcelona, Spain! Register today for the Early bird rate and stay updated with all the latest news right here.

Case studies

This year we continued our curation of case studies, which provide a firsthand glimpse into the seamless integration of Ballerina across diverse industries, and its prowess in solving complex challenges. You can find the complete list of case studies available here.

Ballerina in the news

Ballerina made a remarkable jump in the latest RedMonk Programming Language Rankings, climbing from 80th to 61st place in June 2024. Additionally, Ballerina garnered significant external recognition throughout the year, emerging as a top programming language to learn in 2024. The language was also celebrated as one of the leading emerging open source languages and an ideal choice for microservices and cloud-based development. For a full list of mentions and accolades, visit our website.

Thank you for playing a vital role in Ballerina's journey this year. Your support, enthusiasm, and contributions have been key to the success of our community.

Wishing you a joyful holiday season and a prosperous year ahead!

- The Ballerina Team

Join the community

Be a part of our growing community by joining the Ballerina Discord server and following us on X. When sharing about us on social media, mention @ballerinalang with the hashtag #ballerinalang for a chance to be featured in our newsletter! Remember to subscribe to our YouTube channel. You can also show your support by starring Ballerina’s GitHub repo and following us.

This is a recurring newsletter of content around Ballerina and related technology topics such as integration, microservices, distributed systems, and cloud computing.

Privacy Policy  |   Terms of Service