Curl

About Curl

Originating from research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 1995, Curl Corporation was officially established in 1998 by twelve MIT researchers. The company was founded to commercialize the Curl technology, a platform designed for creating Rich Internet Applications (RIAs), even before the term "RIA" became widespread. The initial research was backed by a grant from DARPA to develop a rich client language for the growing internet society. Throughout its history, Curl Corporation has focused on the enterprise market, particularly in Japan, where it has amassed over 200 industrial customers and cultivated an ecosystem of more than 40 partner companies. In May 2004, a new entity, Curl, Inc., was established. Sumisho Computer Systems Corporation (SCS), which later merged to become SCSK Corporation, became a key player in Curl's journey, with Curl, Inc. being listed as a consolidated subsidiary. SCSK Corporation is the successor to the original Curl Corporation.

Curl provides a comprehensive platform for building high-performance, mission-critical business applications. The business serves enterprise clients that require more robust and interactive web-deployed applications than what standard HTML and JavaScript can offer. Its revenue model includes both free and professional (PRO) versions of its Integrated Development Environment (IDE) and Deployment Licenses. The free BASE versions are fully functional but have restrictions on commercial use, such as not being for applications that use HTTPS or are sold to end-users. The PRO versions provide enhanced security, performance, and maintainability features tailored for enterprise-class applications.

The core of the offering is the Curl platform, which consists of the Curl content language, a runtime engine (RTE), and an IDE. The Curl language unifies the capabilities of markup languages (like HTML), scripting languages, and object-oriented programming languages into a single framework. This allows developers to build everything from formatted text to high-performance 3D graphics within one environment. A key feature is its client-side, just-in-time (JIT) compilation, where application source code is downloaded from a web server and compiled into native code on the client machine. This approach reduces server load, minimizes network bandwidth requirements, and results in application performance that rivals native desktop applications. The platform is designed to be complementary to existing back-end infrastructures like J2EE and .NET, connecting to various server products. It also supports rich user interfaces, including high-quality GUI systems, audio, 2D/3D graphics, and the ability to handle large datasets efficiently.