On 10 Jan 2007, at 08:12, Peter Bozek wrote:
Maybe RS should start to work on AJAX version of RB framework. Though Jobs did not mention Java or Javascript in the presentation, neither show any web application - which may be quite strange, having Google CEO on the stage and mention only Google maps.
If you want to develop AJAX applications, you're better off having a look at Ruby on Rails (or god forgive me, one of the PHP ripoffs like CakePHP or Symphony). Apart from being very tightly integrated with Prototype/script.aculo.us, Rails is a full stack framework that has it all (and is open source): database abstraction, nice MVC model, very easy to pick up. Ruby's metaprogramming features (introspection, method_missing fallback, …) allow Rails to feel like writing English (even more so than REALbasic) and makes Ruby a much more powerful language than REALbasic currently is (in those areas). Compiling REALbasic code (including the GUI part) to a web application (either as CGI or an all-in-one webserver — do I hear Swordfish here —) would be a tremendous job, doing it right in its current state would be an impossible job.
Besides, http://www.basasoft.com/basaone.php is a REALbasic app if I recall right and compiles to HTML, CSS, PHP. Just try it, although it's really nice for some basic stuff, it's not ready for what I can do with Rails. Desktop apps and web apps are just not the same kind of beast, even if AJAX seems to allow you to develop "desktop-like" apps.
Also, there's something like good and bad AJAX usage. Nowadays, you have quite a lot web apps that are fully AJAX'ed and they in fact exhibit the same symptoms Flash apps had in the past (and Flash developers have learned to work around this because it was the main criticism against Flash): no bookmarkability, no browser back and forward button. There are a few "workarounds" drifting around on the WWW for AJAX too, but none of them are actually very satisfactory. The golden rule: only use AJAX when refreshing the web page afterwards gives you the same result.
Best regards Peter De Berdt _______________________________________________ Unsubscribe or switch delivery mode: <http://www.realsoftware.com/support/listmanager/> Search the archives of this list here: <http://support.realsoftware.com/listarchives/lists.html>
