Comments on: Web Applications http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications Rachel Blum on Software, Games And The Rest Of Life Sat, 21 Aug 2010 21:41:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Julien Couvreur http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications/comment-page-1#comment-166 Julien Couvreur Wed, 18 Jan 2006 18:54:00 +0000 http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications#comment-166 <p>FYI, a prototype for an AJAX-based online/offline wiki: http://blog.monstuff.com/archives/000272.html</p> <p>It's not a full solution, but it shows that supporting disconnected operations in web applications is possible. This approach still takes a lot of work and needs to be improved, but it shows some promise.</p> FYI, a prototype for an AJAX-based online/offline wiki: http://blog.monstuff.com/archives/000272.html

It’s not a full solution, but it shows that supporting disconnected operations in web applications is possible. This approach still takes a lot of work and needs to be improved, but it shows some promise.

]]> By: Paul http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications/comment-page-1#comment-122 Paul Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:15:23 +0000 http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications#comment-122 <p>I agree Javascript has a very good and permanent place on the client side. I use it all the time. But doing anything more complicated than an AJAX request to dynamically populate a drop down menu or showing a div, it starts feeling very kludgey and hacky. Even with CSS, it feels like HTML is being pushed to it's design limits. Kind of like driving the doughnut spare tire at 70MPH. Think about how easy it would be to draw those lines between the SQL tables if you have direct access to the graphics context. I couldn't even easily locate where he was doing it in the Javascript code.</p> <p>For what it's worth, Java is awesome (and still very popular) for the server side.</p> I agree Javascript has a very good and permanent place on the client side. I use it all the time. But doing anything more complicated than an AJAX request to dynamically populate a drop down menu or showing a div, it starts feeling very kludgey and hacky. Even with CSS, it feels like HTML is being pushed to it’s design limits. Kind of like driving the doughnut spare tire at 70MPH. Think about how easy it would be to draw those lines between the SQL tables if you have direct access to the graphics context. I couldn’t even easily locate where he was doing it in the Javascript code.

For what it’s worth, Java is awesome (and still very popular) for the server side.

]]> By: Robert Blum http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications/comment-page-1#comment-121 Robert Blum Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:49:43 +0000 http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications#comment-121 <p>Thankfully, there are quite a few Ajaxian frameworks by now that take care of all of that nonsense. I'm sure you know most of them yourself, but my article-sense is tingling ;)</p> <p>My personal prediction is that Javascript is here to stay - it's more accessible than Java. Most average Joe's can do at least some of it, so more people will use that over a less accessible technology like Java. And then there's the effort to have standardized controls to become part of HTML, spearheaded by Apple and the Mozilla guys.</p> <p>No, I think Java for Webapps is dead. Killed by Suns stubbornness and the nightmare of debugging for every VM known to mankind. (Granted, we now debug for every browser known to mankind, but we have to do that anyways...)</p> Thankfully, there are quite a few Ajaxian frameworks by now that take care of all of that nonsense. I’m sure you know most of them yourself, but my article-sense is tingling ;)

My personal prediction is that Javascript is here to stay – it’s more accessible than Java. Most average Joe’s can do at least some of it, so more people will use that over a less accessible technology like Java. And then there’s the effort to have standardized controls to become part of HTML, spearheaded by Apple and the Mozilla guys.

No, I think Java for Webapps is dead. Killed by Suns stubbornness and the nightmare of debugging for every VM known to mankind. (Granted, we now debug for every browser known to mankind, but we have to do that anyways…)

]]> By: Paul http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications/comment-page-1#comment-120 Paul Thu, 05 Jan 2006 15:01:57 +0000 http://www.robertblum.com/articles/2006/01/04/web-applications#comment-120 <p>Ugh. WWW SQL Designer is cool. But I could not imagine debugging and developing that UI code in Javascript/CSS/DHTML. Maybe I still don't have enough experience writing complex client side scripts. I think Java may have been ahead of it's time with the Applet paradigm. Maybe now that broadband is a little more common, AJAX is a widely supported technology, and CPU speed is way up, we'll see Applets make a comeback. I sure like the thought of just using a JListBox with a custom renderer plugged in as opposed to creating all that crap with divs, DOM, and Javascript!</p> Ugh. WWW SQL Designer is cool. But I could not imagine debugging and developing that UI code in Javascript/CSS/DHTML. Maybe I still don’t have enough experience writing complex client side scripts. I think Java may have been ahead of it’s time with the Applet paradigm. Maybe now that broadband is a little more common, AJAX is a widely supported technology, and CPU speed is way up, we’ll see Applets make a comeback. I sure like the thought of just using a JListBox with a custom renderer plugged in as opposed to creating all that crap with divs, DOM, and Javascript!

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