GWT ramblings of a Flex developer - Intro
I am a Flex developer. Have been for the better part of the last 4 years.
Originally I was a Java server side developer.
4 years ago, Flex was rapidly becomming the next big thing in enterprise application development. I got interested and jumped in. Never looked back since, I love it!
First, the transition from server-side to client-side was very good for me. It let me be creative visually, which I found I really love.
Second, on a technical perspective, Flex's OOD and architecture appealed to me very much. I really enjoyed (and still do) coding in Flex.
With the recent announcements by Adobe about the future of Flex, I feel this point in time is once again a decision point for me.
Everybody talkes about the HTML5/Javascript combo, with all the other buzzwords (jQuery, Coffeescript, etc). That did not appeal to me. I can't imagine myself writing Javascript and HTML tags. It might be fine and dandy, just not for me.
What I want is to stay in the RIA realm, but still code with OO principals, architecture, design patterns, etc.
Well, that meant GWT.
This will be a series of posts I will make every few days, with my personal thoughts about the transition from Flex to GWT.
What I like and don't like, what I miss or wish I could still easily do.
Gonna be an interesting ride, why don't you join me? :)
I'll be updating this post as more posts become available, so make sure you come back...
6. View / Presenter communication (events vs. UiHandlers)
7. UiBinder and inheritance
8. RPC with GWTP - Action, Result and the server ActionHandler
9. RPC with GWTP - client ActionHandler
Comments
I read your note and i must say i felt the same as you, i also worked on the server side and switch to the client.
I think you are making a good decision since working with GWT is simple and natural to Java programmers.
From my perspective the transition to GWT was relativly easy .
Good Luck.
You are right with your decision, but why not take another course like phyton, ruby or PHP. maybe even node.js or alike ?
After 3+ years of working with GWT, I can say that is becomes a lot lett fun over time (but doesn't everything?)...
One thing I would like to point out is that you can't escape HTML/JS/CSS/DOM if you want to be a good GWT developer. Sooner or later you will have to style your widgets and keep a uniform look and feel on all browser, and you will need CSS for this, and understandin the logic (or sometimes unlogic) of JavaScript and the browser DOM is essential in understanding the weird exception stacks and preventing inefficient memory eating code.
Enjoy!