[ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java

Tue Oct 7 10:17:26 UTC 2014

----- Original Message -----
> From: "Yair Zaslavsky" <yzaslavs at redhat.com>
> To: "Vojtech Szocs" <vszocs at redhat.com>
> Cc: "Roy Golan" <rgolan at redhat.com>, devel at ovirt.org
> Sent: Tuesday, October 7, 2014 2:01:13 AM
> Subject: Re: [ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Vojtech Szocs" <vszocs at redhat.com>
> > To: "Roy Golan" <rgolan at redhat.com>
> > Cc: devel at ovirt.org
> > Sent: Monday, October 6, 2014 5:45:55 PM
> > Subject: Re: [ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Roy Golan" <rgolan at redhat.com>
> > > To: devel at ovirt.org
> > > Sent: Sunday, October 5, 2014 9:16:20 AM
> > > Subject: Re: [ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java
> > > 
> > > On 10/03/2014 06:19 PM, Vojtech Szocs wrote:
> > > >
> > > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > >> From: "Yair Zaslavsky" <yzaslavs at redhat.com>
> > > >> To: "Vojtech Szocs" <vszocs at redhat.com>
> > > >> Cc: devel at ovirt.org
> > > >> Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:37:36 PM
> > > >> Subject: Re: [ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >>
> > > >> ----- Original Message -----
> > > >>> From: "Vojtech Szocs" <vszocs at redhat.com>
> > > >>> To: devel at ovirt.org
> > > >>> Sent: Friday, October 3, 2014 4:29:15 PM
> > > >>> Subject: [ovirt-devel] GWT vs. Java
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Hi guys,
> > > >>>
> > > >>> I've had a discussion with Roy about GWT vs. Java plans,
> > > >>> he asked me to share this information, so here we go.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> GWT 2.6
> > > >>> =======
> > > >>> - patch pending merge: http://gerrit.ovirt.org/#/c/32135/
> > > >>> - support for Java 7 language syntax like <> operator etc.
> > > >>> - once patch ^^ is merged, we can consolidate Java language
> > > >>>    compliance for whole Engine -> both frontend and backend
> > > >>>    can use Java 7 (yey!)
> > > 
> > > Good news - @amureini prepare the nose of the Animal Sniffer :)
> > 
> > :D
> > 
> > > @Vojtech keep us posted so we'll bump the language version of common
> > 
> > GWT 2.6 upgrade patch will get merged once we do some more GUI
> > tests on IE browser. There was also an issue with bad checksum
> > for one of Maven (POM) artifacts, I'll contact the JBoss guy..
> > 
> > > 
> > > Curious to know, does GWT have a WebSockets module for 2 way
> > > communication with the backend and are we planning to use it?
> > 
> > Good question. AFAIK, GWT doesn't have "official" API for
> > websocket but there are 3rd party libs that could be used,
> > for example:
> > 
> >   https://github.com/sksamuel/gwt-websockets
> >   https://github.com/sockjs/sockjs-client
> > 
> > But moving GUI to REST API is a big task that's ahead of us
> > now, 2-way client/server communication is something we could
> > do after that (distant future). I'm all for websockets, btw :)
> > 
> > > 
> > > >>> GWT 2.7
> > > >>> =======
> > > >>> - planned support for *only* Java 8 language syntax like
> > > >>>    lambdas etc. but *without* emulating new Java 8 APIs like
> > > >>>    streams etc. (Java 8 API emulation should come in GWT 3.0)
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Likely, GWT 2.7 will remove GWT deRPC implementation on which
> > > >>> we currently rely on. (@Martin, can you please share details?)
> > > >>>
> > > >>> This means that until we move UI to REST API, we can't upgrade
> > > >>> post GWT 2.6, so this will put more pressure to work on oVirtJS
> > > >>> project in consequence.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> GWT 3.0
> > > >>> =======
> > > >>> - ETA early next year?
> > > >>> - planned to fully support Java 8 -> both language and APIs
> > > >>> - one of key highlights is better integration with JavaScript,
> > > >>>    which fits the scenario where GWT "application" is one module
> > > >>>    that's part of bigger application (hybrid approach)
> > > >> Thanks for sharing with us!
> > > >> Can you please elabroate more on this hybrid approach?
> > > > With "hybrid approach" I meant a situation where the web application
> > > > consists of distinct modules, each module providing some functionality.
> > > >
> > > > The common base technology for all modules, as well as for the module
> > > > infra itself, is JavaScript. Each module can export APIs that other
> > > > modules can consume. The whole complexity of web application is broken
> > > > by dividing its logical parts into modules. Each module can be built
> > > > (and packaged too) as a separate project.
> > > >
> > > > For a long time, I felt that GWT lived in its "own" world, with vast
> > > > majority of GWT use cases = GWT to implement the whole web application.
> > > >
> > > > GWT 3.0 should provide better JavaScript integration, so GWT can also
> > > > more easily fill the role of a "module" as opposed to the traditional
> > > > role of "the whole application".
> > > 
> > > Does this mean you're thinking of replacing some of the frontend parts
> > > with plain javascript and html and make them play with the GWT modules?
> > 
> > That's my secret plan, now it's not secret anymore :D
> > 
> > Exactly as you wrote, I was thinking of modularizing the whole frontend
> > with JavaScript language as the common base between all modules. Some
> > modules could be implemented in JavaScript, some could still use GWT.
> 
> Awesome!
> Correct me if I'm wrong but currently JS frameworks (Angular and such) are
> more supported than GWT and
> have wider community.

Well, GWT was born around 2006 and is now long past its "hype" period,
but it's definitely not dead (as many people think). For those of you
curious about GWT future, see [1].

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uJjh4DDW2s&index=2&list=PL1yReUCGwGvoJimc2mUBDQCsdvV8gTwP5

With JavaScript language getting vast improvements (ES6 Harmony spec)
in near future, it's clear that JavaScript is here to stay as dominant
frontend language, alongside other standards like HTML and CSS. Take
a look at [2], if you're interested in learning about new ES6 language
features.

[2] https://github.com/lukehoban/es6features

The idea of modularizing oVirt UI codebase doesn't imply technology
switch, it just implies breaking monolithic structure into smaller
pieces with well-defined API to orchestrate them. This should bring
many positive side effects, such as easier maintenance (of smaller
pieces rather than whole structure), better tech-switch potential
(one piece at time rather than whole structure) and also for those
wanting to extend GUI with whole new features, remove "must know GWT"
barrier.

Anyway, this is idea for the long term :)

> 
> > 
> > > 
> > > >> Cheers,
> > > >> Yair
> > > >>
> > > >>> Regards,
> > > >>> Vojtech
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