First I want to welcome the slashdot readers that decide to play some poker or dice (like risk).
I also want to provide a quick response to the comments on GWT. The problem with some of the discussion is that it doesn't recognize that software development is a huge industry not limited to scripting, the web, and UI's. I don't think its fair to say that GWT isn't catching on, and I can attest from book sales that it is definitely well used, but perhaps its fair to say its not catching on with web developers.
I find that web developers in general are like the lead singers to a rock band (no disrespect intended). They're on the front end, they get a lot of credit, people talk about their lyrics, and they're on the cover of Rolling Stone. But the music industry is huge and much more than the front man. So when a new type of music comes along, say its Jazz, and it not about the buzz or doing something cool but instead more purely about the music it can still become immensely popular if not more so than lead singers - but its easy to conclude that it is not popular.
I hope the analogy isn't too far fetched. You see, GWT, like good Jazz, doesn't have the promotion of popular music. Even though it's backed by google it's clear that Google doesn't promote a lot of its projects. GWT goes against what traditional web developers are comfortable with and as a result isn't popular with them and doesn't make it to their blogs or web 2.0 websites. However the massive market of desktop and server side developers really get GWT since it uses strong software development concepts and is capable of building thick clients. They want a piece of the web browser since it is so ubiquitous but they just don't have the blogs and web 2.0 buzz of the web developers. In the end it's not about which tool generates the most buzz its about the quality of the products you build. I for one, am extremely happy with the quality of products I can build with GWT.
Slashdot Mirror
First I want to welcome the slashdot readers that decide to play some poker or dice (like risk). I also want to provide a quick response to the comments on GWT. The problem with some of the discussion is that it doesn't recognize that software development is a huge industry not limited to scripting, the web, and UI's. I don't think its fair to say that GWT isn't catching on, and I can attest from book sales that it is definitely well used, but perhaps its fair to say its not catching on with web developers. I find that web developers in general are like the lead singers to a rock band (no disrespect intended). They're on the front end, they get a lot of credit, people talk about their lyrics, and they're on the cover of Rolling Stone. But the music industry is huge and much more than the front man. So when a new type of music comes along, say its Jazz, and it not about the buzz or doing something cool but instead more purely about the music it can still become immensely popular if not more so than lead singers - but its easy to conclude that it is not popular. I hope the analogy isn't too far fetched. You see, GWT, like good Jazz, doesn't have the promotion of popular music. Even though it's backed by google it's clear that Google doesn't promote a lot of its projects. GWT goes against what traditional web developers are comfortable with and as a result isn't popular with them and doesn't make it to their blogs or web 2.0 websites. However the massive market of desktop and server side developers really get GWT since it uses strong software development concepts and is capable of building thick clients. They want a piece of the web browser since it is so ubiquitous but they just don't have the blogs and web 2.0 buzz of the web developers. In the end it's not about which tool generates the most buzz its about the quality of the products you build. I for one, am extremely happy with the quality of products I can build with GWT.