Re: Developer Machine Configuration to Support GWT Compilation

The larger the better.

SuperDevMode in GWT 2.7 supports incremental compilation which is a lot faster than SuperDevMode in GWT 2.5 / 2.6. However it also requires more memory. Our app is about 200 KLOC GWT code and we launch SDM with -Xmx3G to give SDM enough room. Add to that 3GB the amount of RAM needed for a local app server, IDE, operating system, possible local VMs with IE, etc. and you will quickly realize that 4GB will be a no-go. Well honestly nowadays 4GB is always a no-go for development.

We started with 4GB years ago and actually used a J2EE server on a different host to save memory on the local machine. This was a huge pain in the ass as you have to build a war file and deploy it instead of just redeploying an exploded war directory locally. Given that classic DevMode had memory leaks we were also forced to launch DevMode with more memory assigned than technically needed so we don't had to restart DevMode that often. So we finally upgraded to 8GB which was the absolute minimum and was ok for some time. However the machine was still swapping.

Nowadays we use 16GB RAM and an SSD which seems ideal for us for now. The machine does not use any swap and the software reacts fast because of SSD and enough RAM.

As GWT also is pretty CPU intensive when recompiling the app in SuperDevMode (or classic DevMode) you should also have a good CPU. The better the less you have to wait. We currently have an Intel i5 with 2,3 GHz which is ok but with an i7 3,4Ghz SuperDevMode recompiles will be quite a bit faster.

So I would recommend:

8GB/16GB minimum, maybe a SSD however it is not really required, the fastest CPU you can get for your budget. But as soon as you feel like you are waiting for your machine then upgrade!

The reasoning is quite simple: You have a one time investment vs. endless (paid) developer hours lost because they have to wait for their machine. In the long term you safe money when choosing the higher one time investment for better hardware. But many companies do not get that right.

-- J.

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