

GWT for Java to AJAX compilation - cconstantine
http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/

======
johnyzee
GWT is a major game changer which the world has yet to discover.

I predict that soonish we'll begin seeing web applications that weren't
possible before, and this will force a big shift into GWT or a GWT like web
application development paradigm.

~~~
nostrademons
I predict that those web applications that weren't possible before will all
use straight JavaScript, and GWT will be relegated to the dustbin of ideas
that were too early to change the game.

~~~
jsjenkins168
I predict as web applications get increasingly complicated, javascript will be
viewed as more of a low-level language which will be compiled down to from
higher level abstractions. Not because javascript is a bad language, but
because browser fragmentation is so bad. It may not just be Java (in the form
of GWT), but other languages as well.

Google has actually been doing this for a while now, even before GWT. Much of
the javascript that is used in their apps is generated via compiler in one
form or another.

~~~
nostrademons
Browser problems really aren't that bad if you use a cross-platform JavaScript
library. The core language behaves basically the same in all browsers (except
for the trailing-commas issue in IE), it's just the DOM and event-handling
models that are a mess.

~~~
hello_moto
Those "cross-platform" libraries aren't:

\- Faster \- Slimmer \- Better

compare to GWT.

------
almost
I still don't get it. Why would I want to eschew the fairly okish and dynamic
language JavaScript in favor of the big lumbering Java? The other way round I
could understand.

~~~
jsjenkins168
Because browsers suck and native javascript behavior is not predictable across
platforms.

In GWT the browser is abstracted and you dont worry about it. You write AJAX
code and it always works. Firefox, IE, iPhone, whatever.

Writing the code itself is not where the real time investment is with
ambitious ajax projects. Its wasted in browser-related quirks and debugging.
Being able save this valuable time and focus on building something cool is
worth it in my opinion.

Also GWT is just plain faster.

~~~
nostrademons
"Writing the code itself is not where the real time investment is with
ambitious ajax projects. Its wasted in browser-related quirks and debugging."

That has not been my experience. I've found that the vast majority of my
JavaScript development time goes to areas that are hassles in _any_ rich UI
programming (I was a Swing and then Netbeans developer before I turned to the
web):

1.) Forgetting to call a listener or otherwise update UI state.

2.) Finding that the UI really works better if some faraway component auto-
updates its state when you change this menu item, and having to plumb the
update through the whole app.

3.) Working out corner cases when the user selects some combination of options
that's so crazy you didn't think anyone could possibly choose it.

I usually do all my development in Firefox and then set aside a week or so to
port to IE, which I know everybody says is a terrible development practice,
but it's worked on multiple projects for me. I just memorize all the areas
where I'm likely to have problems, and avoid them. I usually find that well
ofter 60% of the bugs are trailing commas anyway - the event-handling and DOM
differences are taken care of by JQuery, and there really are not that many
other core language differences.

------
olavk
Allow me to plug my own project: <http://www.ecmascript4.com/> Translates
ECMAScript 4 to classic JavaScript. This brings type checking, classes,
namespaces etc. to JavaScript, however it is still backwards compatible with
classic JavaScript, so you can port gradually and integrate with existing
JavaScript libraries. Best of both worlds!

------
cconstantine
I was afraid of that...

I'm trying to get into web developement; I've been deep in compilers and local
apps for too long :(

~~~
msg
I don't think it's bad to want to abstract away the low-levels of client-side
JavaScript, but you might want to start with JavaScript first to know what and
why you are abstracting away.

There's a good introduction in the form of lectures from Douglas Crockford. I
watched them recently and they were informative and interesting.

[http://www.catonmat.net/blog/learning-javascript-
programming...](http://www.catonmat.net/blog/learning-javascript-programming-
language-through-video-lectures)

~~~
cconstantine
Yeah, you're probably right ;)

I'll take a look at the learning-javascript-stuffs, thanks

------
food
um, you're about 3 years late on this "news"

~~~
jsjenkins168
You were using GWT 3 years ago? Do you work at Google or something?

This wouldnt have been a valid claim until very recently, like GWT 1.5 so not
really old news. GWT 1.5 compiled javascript is super fast relative to older
versions.

------
tom_rath
Why convert the Java app into a browser-based AJAX form when you can launch
the application using Java Web Start?

