Re: Revisiting Support for GWT Designer

On Sat, Jan 3, 2015 at 12:58 PM, Jens <jens.nehlmeier@gmail.com> wrote:

A bit off topic, but:  The real value of GWT for me has been the ability to write browser apps without HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Java (you know, spaghetti) - being able to use Java only.  As you start adding HTML and CSS to GWT apps  (the UI part), I question the whole value of GWT.

The value of GWT is its tooling support because it can reuse tooling from the Java world. That is literally the only reason that really counts. 

GWT is a leaky abstraction and will always be. If you refuse to learn more about the platform you are programming apps for (the web and its technologies) then you are limiting yourself. Good luck writing a smooth mobile website/app with custom UI and corporate identity theme without knowing HTML/CSS and browser reflows.

It scares me that you believe that because of what it may mean about the direction of GWT.  I hope a sufficient number think as I do.

While I agree that (to put it as negatively as I can, as you did) "GWT is a leaky abstraction that will always be", so too is HTML a lowest common denominator, leaky abstraction over display technology.  The only reason HTML has survived is because it is not controlled by any single commercial enterprise - politics.  There is no display technology I've seen in 35 years worse than HTML.  It utterly requires never ending adjustments to make it flexible.  It is trash.  The whole industry is turned on its head trying to make something usable out of HTML.

GWT is the best attempt to make something decent out of HTML.

Although I have many, many years experience programming in C, I "refuse" to learn the underlying machine instructions....

Blake

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