The programming language Scala has been released. It's an object-functional language which runs on the JVM and is compatible with Java. I haven't had time to try it yet, but here's the text of the announcement from xml-dev:

We'd like to announce availability of the first implementation of the Scala programming language. Scala smoothly integrates object-oriented and functional programming. It is designed to express common programming patterns in a concise, elegant, and type-safe way. Scala introduces several innovative language constructs. For instance:

• Abstract types and mixin composition unify ideas from object and module systems.
• Pattern matching over class hierarchies unifies functional and object-oriented data access. It greatly simplifies the processing of XML trees.
• A flexible syntax and type system enables the construction of advanced libraries and new domain specific languages.

At the same time, Scala is compatible with Java. Java libraries and frameworks can be used without glue code or additional declarations. The current implementation of Scala runs on Java VM. It requires JDK 1.4 and can run on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Solaris, and most other operating systems. A .net version of Scala is currently under development. For further information and downloads, please visit: http://scala.epfl.ch