I'm one of the fence sitters. I have been using Flex/Flash, which has been fantastic, but has no future on the mobile web. I think there are only two mature tools that would allow me to create similarly rich applications; GWT and Closure Tools. Google has decided that Javascript won't cut it for their own future products, even though they are heavily invested in Closure Tools. I agree completely. It is important to understand that they have also decided NOT to move everything to GWT. This makes some sense, given that the owner of Java is suing them. I think this is in no way a reflection on GWT as a tool and technology. So Google has decided to move forward with a third initiative designed, in part, to replace GWT and Closure Tools at Google. So, I look at that and I am worried about long-term support for GWT. I think that is a reasonable concern. This concern is mitigated by the fact that GWT is a fully open-source project. Flex/Flash on mobile browsers _was_ fully supported and look how that turned out. So, corporate support is no guarantee; open source is actually a safer bet. However, I would feel a lot better if I had an official roadmap for GWT.
That being said, Ray's comments on what is coming are heartening. The biggest worry I have for GWT, if Google stops directly supporting it, is the debug environment. The plugin seems to need a lot of maintenance because the browsers are moving so fast. The upcoming support for source-maps mitigates this; I would feel better if I did not have to rely on a plugin. I've been working with Dart quite a bit and it is really promising. However, integration with other Javascript environments is problematic. For instance, Dart integration with PhoneGap does not exist and appears to be very challenging (some have tried and decided to pass on it). This is a non-starter for me. I want to use the mobile web, but I also want the flexibility of providing an app if my customers want one. For now, Dart can't do that. This may also be a problem when trying to integrate a Dart app into Windows 8 Metro. GWT is far superior in this regard; it has a nice architecture for integrating with Javascript and many useful implementations, including a couple for PhoneGap. I'm hoping Javascript integration will be addressed in the future, but Dart is still in alpha and the team is working on core features at least until the language gets to 1.0. Also, because Dart is so young, the tooling cannot compare to Java tooling. This will improve, but Java has many years head start. The Dart team is amazing and I am sure they are creating something very important; I just wish they were 2 more years along. My window for fence sitting is closing fast. I will have to make a decision. GWT and Dart are the only real contenders. As of now, I think GWT is the best choice, but I would sleep better at night if I had a roadmap under my pillow. On Apr 13, 7:34 am, Blake McBride <blake1...@gmail.com> wrote: > I strongly disagree with this. First of all browser technology and HTML > are in constant flux. If GWT is not updated, it will very soon become > out-of-date (bugs in new browsers) and unusable (reliably usable over a > broad base of browsers and platforms). Secondly, building apps with GWT is > a full time job. Having to understand and maintain GWT makes two full time > jobs. Building GWT apps could easily be a multi-million dollar effort - > and so could maintaining GWT. This is a huge, huge risk! > > Another issue I've seen this many times before. When Windows became > popular, many developer tools appeared. Many were quite good. IMO, the > worst development environment by far was Microsoft's MFC. Virtually all of > the other tools either sold out or got dropped. Management often chose MFC > over other tool because they were non-technical and the old IBM adage > applied to Microsoft "no one ever lost their job by selecting Microsoft" > ruled. In the end, the industry largely settled on the absolute lowest > common denominator. Innovation in that area, for all practical purposes, > is dead. > > Now we have ASP, JSP, and other popular mashups out there. I am utterly > shocked how poor they are (although to their credit, they are trying to > solve practical problems given an environment that was clearly not meant to > support what they are attempting!). These environments are among the worst > I've ever seen. It's one kludgy work around after another with three > totally different environments attempting to interact. GWT goes a very > long way to solve this very significant problem. However, GWT is a total > waste of time if you risk your entire company on it and it gets dropped. > In terms of financial risk, very unfortunately, tool popularity and > support beats functionality, elegance, and productivity every time. > > A statement of commitment from Google would make a huge difference to me. > > Blake McBride > > > > > > > > On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 7:52 AM, Frank <frank.wyna...@gmail.com> wrote: > > GWT will also not go away... > > If you have downloaded GWT on your computer you just can keep using it > > even years after Google has dropped GWT... > > Just like you still can program in QuickBasic or something. > > > GWT doesn't need anything from Google on the web to operate. > > > I will just keep using GWT if Google drops it, and see keep an eye on Dart. > > > Op donderdag 12 april 2012 10:00:15 UTC+2 schreef dominikz het volgende: > > >> I've been for years with technologies like SAP or AS/400. Those are > >> really annoying when you try to do something modern. But the thing that is > >> good about them is that they never go away. I understand that Google needs > >> to try new things (dart). But turning away from such a big project like GWT > >> is stabbing yourself in the back. > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > "Google Web Toolkit" group. > > To view this discussion on the web visit > >https://groups.google.com/d/msg/google-web-toolkit/-/TSws9XOf334J. > > > To post to this group, send email to google-web-toolkit@googlegroups.com. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > google-web-toolkit+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > > For more options, visit this group at > >http://groups.google.com/group/google-web-toolkit?hl=en. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Google Web Toolkit" group. To post to this group, send email to google-web-toolkit@googlegroups.com. 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