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GWT may have been an impressive solution for a problem that existed when supporting legacy browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 was still an issue, but its time

GWT may have been an impressive solution for a problem that existed when supporting legacy browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 was still an issue, but its time has passed. The general idea was that you get the mature tooling and strong typing of Java, and abstract away all the browser nastiness. Best of both worlds right? The problem with GWT is that you are only using the Java language, and so you are missing all the libraries that make Java such a rich ecosystem when run in the JVM. The abstraction layer it forms keeps your developers locked in a world that is neither Java, nor modern HTML5/ECMAScript. So instead of learning to use new browser features, your team is stuck fighting GWT's idiosyncrasies and waiting for it to finish compiling. If you are considering frameworks for a new web application, go for Ember or Angular. GWT is obsolete and will hold you back.

pavel_lishin 11y ago
> * If you are considering frameworks for a new web application, go for Ember or Angular.* Why not React?
- Freak_NL 11y ago
  No particular reason beyond my inexperience with React and the impression that Ember and Angular are more mature at this point.
deleted 11y ago
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RyanZAG 11y ago
You've maybe missed the key point of GWT. It's definitely not to get around weird browser issues. The point of GWT is to create your complex business logic in Java (which Java is very good for), and then share that business logic across your server, web and mobile platforms. You can do the same with Javascript, but Java is (imo) better designed and suited to that task. Typescript is a closer alternative, but Java just plain has better tooling and server runtimes, and Typescript is compile-to-js in the same way Java with GWT is. That said, polymer with GWT is really nice and works as well as most web things. Stuff like Angular has so many problems of it's own that it's just plain false to say GWT is obsolete when it actually solves some of the problems Angular still has.

pavel_lishin 11y ago

> * If you are considering frameworks for a new web application, go for Ember or Angular.* Why not React?

Freak_NL 11y ago
No particular reason beyond my inexperience with React and the impression that Ember and Angular are more mature at this point.

deleted 11y ago

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RyanZAG 11y ago

You've maybe missed the key point of GWT. It's definitely not to get around weird browser issues. The point of GWT is to create your complex business logic in Java (which Java is very good for), and then share that business logic across your server, web and mobile platforms. You can do the same with Javascript, but Java is (imo) better designed and suited to that task. Typescript is a closer alternative, but Java just plain has better tooling and server runtimes, and Typescript is compile-to-js in the same way Java with GWT is. That said, polymer with GWT is really nice and works as well as most web things. Stuff like Angular has so many problems of it's own that it's just plain false to say GWT is obsolete when it actually solves some of the problems Angular still has.