5 ms·

I've co-authored a book on ExtJS 3.x and I've worked heavily with Sencha Touch. One thing that probably isn't mentioned very often is that Sencha now recommend

I've co-authored a book on ExtJS 3.x and I've worked heavily with Sencha Touch. One thing that probably isn't mentioned very often is that Sencha now recommends the use of Sencha Command for managing Ext JS and ST apps. It's a nightmare combination of open-source and closed source, which means fixing any bugs that arise is a total nightmare. One reason they use this is because part of Sencha Command parses your source code and builds a dependency tree which is then used generate a concatenated build, a minimised build, and for Sencha Touch, a diff which is used to deliver delta updates to the browser so the user has less to download when the app updates. This is all great, but I can't help but feel if they'd used a more standard approach - AMD for example - to create their module definitions, they'd have reduced a whole level of complexity in the framework code and in the surrounding toolset. This is just one corner of the Sencha ecosystem which provides pain points. I still believe it can be the right choice for some applications, but in many situations the power it provides comes with too much complexity, a lot of which you won't get burned by until you're tied into their framework.

craigching 12y ago
> AMD for example We use Dojo and AMD has been a god send. We use it to subset our web client into parts that can be dynamically loaded only if/when needed. Keeps our browser footprint small. I'm going off-topic here, but what are the equivalents for AMD when using the newer tech like Angular and React? I really want to try and move to Angular or React, but am I going to miss my dynamically loaded modules?
- peterhunt 12y ago
  You can use AMD with React (though most in our community use CommonJS I think). Angular implements its own module system which is somewhat similar to AMD.
Joeri 12y ago
I started using extjs in the tail end of the Jack Slocum period. He was a formidable one man army who delivered what I considered an elegant but incomplete vision. I feel that after he dropped out of it they never managed to reach the same level of clarity in building out the missing pieces. Each release brought more features but also more cognitive load, and it made it harder to learn. Eventually, with v4, they just built a new framework with a different philosophy that they then branded as extjs. I wonder how extjs would have turned out had jack been there all along.
- porker 12y ago
  What did Jack Slocum move on to do? I found his blog [0] but it says very little about what he's doing now. 0: jackslocum.com

craigching 12y ago

> AMD for example We use Dojo and AMD has been a god send. We use it to subset our web client into parts that can be dynamically loaded only if/when needed. Keeps our browser footprint small. I'm going off-topic here, but what are the equivalents for AMD when using the newer tech like Angular and React? I really want to try and move to Angular or React, but am I going to miss my dynamically loaded modules?

peterhunt 12y ago
You can use AMD with React (though most in our community use CommonJS I think). Angular implements its own module system which is somewhat similar to AMD.

Joeri 12y ago

I started using extjs in the tail end of the Jack Slocum period. He was a formidable one man army who delivered what I considered an elegant but incomplete vision. I feel that after he dropped out of it they never managed to reach the same level of clarity in building out the missing pieces. Each release brought more features but also more cognitive load, and it made it harder to learn. Eventually, with v4, they just built a new framework with a different philosophy that they then branded as extjs. I wonder how extjs would have turned out had jack been there all along.

porker 12y ago
What did Jack Slocum move on to do? I found his blog [0] but it says very little about what he's doing now. 0: jackslocum.com