SEVENCLICK
Mobile Technology Evangelists

Have you ever developed a web-site?Have you ever developed a web-site with javascript code?

Have you ever developed a web-site with AJAX?

If you have answered “Yes” to at least one of last questions, you have a reason to celebrate Google Web Toolkit 1.4 release!!!!

It’s not a secret how painful javascript programming can be. Fortunately, tools like FireBug have come to put an end to this. But they are not perfect yet. Let me tell you about a great alternative to solve almost every problem derived from javascript web programming: Google Web Toolkit.

Google Web Toolkit concept is not easy to explain, but the advantages and the results are self-explaining. Let me try to explain the concept. Much better, I’m going to use Google’s explanation instead:
Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is an open source Java development framework that lets you escape the matrix of technologies that make writing AJAX applications so difficult and error prone. With GWT, you can develop and debug AJAX applications in the Java language using the Java development tools of your choice. When you deploy your application to production, the GWT compiler translates your Java application to browser-compliant JavaScript and HTML.

Here’s the GWT development cycle:

1. Use your favorite Java IDE to write and debug an application in the Java language, using as many (or as few) GWT libraries as you find useful.
2. Use GWT’s Java-to-JavaScript compiler to distill your application into a set of JavaScript and HTML files that you can serve with any web server.
3. Confirm that your application works in each browser that you want to support, which usually takes no additional work.

Easy? Are you already convinced? No? Please, don’t answer yet. Let Google give you an overview of its main features and decide them.

• Dynamic, reusable UI components

• Really simple RPC

• Browser history management

• Real debugging

• Browser compatible

• JUnit integration

• Internationalization

• Interoperability and fine-grained control

• Google API Library: Google Gears support New!

• Completely Open Source

Better? Of course its better. Possibilities are terrific and almost endless. Take a look at GWT 1.4, now in its final version (no more beta) and decide how good it is. Believe me, you won’t regret.

Link Google Code – Google Web Toolkit