HN Explorer

Ask HN: Anyone using GWT in an app?

3 points by monkeybusiness ↗ HN
I was thinking about using GWT on App Engine but the more I think about it, the less I see the need for writing Java code for my client-side JS. Anyone else feel this is overkill and a JS library like jquery makes more sense?

Come to think of it, is there ever a good justification for using GWT?

2 comments

[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 15.6 ms ] thread
warfangle
No JS library like jQuery (especially jQuery) makes sense. jQuery is useful, but the code written with it tends to be fragile (and when things blow up because of an IE6 bug in jQuery - and they do happen - you're pretty much SOL)..

In fact, the only kind of library I could consciously condone is one that promotes object oriented design by not giving you so many easy (but SLOW) ways to access DOM elements (I'm looking at you, $()).

Of course, it all depends on what you're trying to do. GWT tends to ease the data transfer a bit, from what I know, plus being easier (I assume) to integrate with Gears. So if you're doing a lot of data manipulation and storage with AJAX, GWT may actually be the way to go.

If you feel comfortable writing JavaScript, that's probably the direction you want to take. GWT seems like a platform for Swing programmers who don't want to deal with JavaScript's idiosyncrasies and browser quirks.

But for all I know, I could just be blowing smoke - I've not delved that far into GWT. Seemed like too much trouble for what you got from it...

monkeybusiness
I'm not a JS expert but judging by the questions on S.O. I had the impression that few people had bad things to say about jQuery. Was not aware of its 'fragility'. Good to know.

You say: "GWT seems like a platform for Swing programmers who don't want to deal with JavaScript's idiosyncrasies and browser quirks." But couldn't you say the same about jQuery?

In fact, GWT requires you to understand the DOM and to get into the more advanced tricks with GWT there are features to let you write js directly in your Java code.

Not sure what you mean by "ease data transfer": "If you're doing a lot of data manipulation and storage with AJAX, GWT may actually be the way to go". Do you mean if your ajax passes a lot of data back and forth, then GWT might help because its minified and optimized?