Microsoft Open-Sources Reactive Extensions Programming Model

Darryl K. Taft | eWeek | November 7, 2012

Microsoft Open Technologies announced that it is open-sourcing Reactive Extensions, an asynchronous programming model for the cloud.

Microsoft has open-sourced an asynchronous programming model known as Reactive Extensions or Rx. According to a post on the company’s Interoperability@Microsoft, Microsoft Open Technologies (MS Open Tech) is open-sourcing Rx,  a programming model that enables developers to glue together asynchronous data streams.

Microsoft said the model is particularly useful in cloud programming because it creates a common interface for writing applications stemming from diverse data sources, such as stock quotes, tweets, computer events and Web service requests, according to the post written jointly by Microsoft software architect Erik Meijer and Claudio Caldato, principal program manager for Microsoft Open Tech.

Meijer, a proven researcher and software wizard with several Microsoft inventions under his belt, developed Rx and continues his leadership role in the evolution of the technology. The Rx development team will be on assignment with the MS Open Tech Hub, an engineering program to accelerate the open development of the project and collaborate with open-source communities...