Google has added support for the Java programming language to its AppEngine cloud computing service.

That means developers will be able to build applications in Java that execute on Google’s own infrastructure.

To date the AppEngine has supported only the Python scripting language. But adding Java support was the number one feature request among App Engine users.

“We wanted to give developers something that they could be ecstatic about,” said Google engineers Don Schwarz and Toby Reyelts on the official App Engine blog.

The move dramatically increases the number of potential users for Google’s App Engine. According to research conducted by software standards company Tiobe, Java is the most popular programming language. Python, although gaining in popularity, ranks number seven.

Java was originally created by Sun Microsystems, a company with its own cloud computing ambitions. But having open sourced the programming language a year ago, the company cannot prevent any other providers from offering a cloud-based Java run-time.

On 1 April 2009, Google ‘announced’ that it would add App Engine support for Fortran 77.