My gut reaction to this is that I'd rather have Python 3 over server side JavaScript. The Python API is already comparable to (and possibly faster than) the Java API. See http://gaejava.appspot.com/ and http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1085898/choosing-java-vs-python-on-google-app-engine. So the performance argument is arguable at best. Additionally I don't think the value of a tight developer community can be underestimated. In particular I find these forums to be a huge benefit for learning best practices, tips, and tricks. But I fear that introducing another language -- and especially JavaScript, with it's tower of babel of libraries and coding styles -- would decrease the signal to noise ratio of the forums and the developer community. And that would affect my productivity more than "language impedance".
Don't get me wrong -- I really, really, like JavaScript. It's an awesomely creative language for making highly functional user interfaces. But I really, really like Python as well -- mostly because it is so clear, readable, predictable, and mostly has only one right way to do things. This seems like a better language choice for server. At least until GO (http://golang.org/) catches on ;-) John On Oct 10, 1:16 pm, Demis Bellot <[email protected]> wrote: > Thanks for the link, I just added a little excerpt from my post to the list. > > I think the fact that so many other devs are coming to the same conclusion > independently speaks of how favourable a JavaScript for GAE solution is. > > I'm sure if Google released a poll to gauge public interest about it, you > would get an positive response from the dev community. > > Here's hoping for some positive steps in exploring the idea. > > - Demis > > On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 8:29 PM, Robert Kluin <[email protected]>wrote: > > > > > > > > > I think it would be interesting too. Star issue 35. > >http://code.google.com/p/googleappengine/issues/detail?id=35 > > > Just please do not post a "+1" or "me too" type comment, a star is > > sufficient. > > > Robert > > > On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 14:56, Demis Bellot <[email protected]> > > wrote: > > > Hey All, > > > Love what you guys have created with Google App Engine although > > > I'm surprised that you haven't offered JavaScript as a target language > > yet. > > > It's a ubiquitous language known by most web developers and is one of the > > > primary languages engrained into Google's DNA as you already provide a > > great > > > runtime for it in V8. The success of node.js/expressjs should prove that > > it > > > is a viable server platform with a willing community. > > > The way I see it a V8-powered JavaScript hits a sweet spot: I imagine it > > > would be faster to run than Python (my major gripe against it) and more > > > terse, expressive and functional than Java (my major dislike). As most > > gae > > > apps are websites, JavaScript also reduces the impedance language > > miss-match > > > as it will allow you to use the one language for both client and server. > > I > > > would imagine that the per-request model of gae would also be better > > suited > > > for JavaScript as opposed to the high start-up cost and long-running > > nature > > > of Java. > > > What do you guys think? I'm sure it's not the first time this has been > > > suggested, as it seems like a natural choice. > > > > -- > > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > > "Google App Engine" group. > > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > > [email protected]<google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > > [email protected]> > > . > > > For more options, visit this group at > > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Google App Engine" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]<google-appengine%2Bunsubscrib > > [email protected]> > > . > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google App Engine" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/google-appengine?hl=en.
