Comments on: Choosing an Ajax Framework

By: Tercume

Tercume — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 17:20:27 +0000

nice article, thanks..

By: Michele Mader

Michele Mader — Tue, 20 Mar 2007 06:48:42 +0000

Also JQuery is a very good Framework.
Really light, simple to learn. and with a lot of modules.

By: Joonas Lehtinen

Joonas Lehtinen — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:32:43 +0000

For those who do not enjoy javascript debugging, ITMill Toolkit 4, released today,
is the perfect choice by these metrics:
- write in real Java, run on server and enjoy in Ajax
- supports most browsers: from ie7 to safari, mobile phones and even pre-Ajax
browsers like lynx
- really nice user interface components
- commercial support
See http://www.itmill.com for more details, demo and download.

By: Guy Peled

Guy Peled — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:36:05 +0000

P.S.

I know that it is not a common feature but I think you should add design time support….
We have it in the format of WinForms designer and I know that TIBCO has a designer…

In my opinion that is a critical issue if you are looking for the UI part. If you are looking for “business logic and script kernels” it is not relevant.

Guy

By: Guy Peled

Guy Peled — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 08:33:06 +0000

I really enjoyed your article I think you should also do a framework comparison with this issues helping developers to do the data collection part.

As the chief architect of Visual WebGui I want to review our framework regarding to these subjects and I hope other project owners will do the same.

server independant or not ?
Yes, provides WinForms API and full abstraction of web bit and bits. There are plans to create a Java version with Swing API.

structural Javascript enhancements ?
No JavaScript is needed. Fully C# object oriented programming for every aspect of the application.

re-usability of your written components ?
Full object oriented reusability. Every thing can be inherited as every thing is an object.

features you need ?
You should consider our framework for use as back-end administrations, line of business web application and enhancement of web sites with applicative dialogs and applications. Not intended to be used as a site framework.

How long will it last ?
The framework is available under open source and we have just received our first venture capital funding enabling us to fully support the framework.

What sort of support ?
As said commercial support will be available real soon and our community testify that we are very fast in responding to their needs.

How steep is the learning curve for the framework?
Almost no learning needed for developers with WinForms experience and web developers are learning it really quick. WinForms API have proven to be an excellent choice for this matter.

Who are my visitors ?
Our purpose is to create web applications (like gmail and etc.) if your visitors require that than consider us.

Thanks,
Guy

By: Jonathan Kushner

Jonathan Kushner — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 04:32:49 +0000

I enjoyed your article very much. Whats your take on just building the framework yourself? We here at my company take a real pride in our core for PHP, and Im considering tackling this issue with javascript.

All you really need is prototype.

By: jdalton

jdalton — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 02:10:21 +0000

I like the hash argument style as well. I stumbled across this comment of a dev that made a method to easily allow his functions to allow both hash and traditional style arguments:

http://alexander.kirk.at/2006/08/09/javascript-tricks-and-good-programming-style/#comment-4328

I use a modified form in all my projects.

By: Michael Mahemoff

Michael Mahemoff — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 01:26:26 +0000

Good point Andrea. Code was meant to be beautiful. This is where I like the prototype Ruby-style method signatures with optional hash argument.

By: Tobie Langel

Tobie Langel — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 00:45:09 +0000

Great point Jake. Agreed!

By: Jake

Jake — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 22:56:19 +0000

Unit testing was major factor for me, since I am going to build on top of the existing framework. First off, it made me feel more comfortable about the general code base. Secondly, I am re-using the unit testing framework to test and maintain my personal additions to the framework and custom components.

By: petpeev

petpeev — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 20:50:46 +0000

Ya it annoys me when I see nested if/else/for loops without opening or closing brakets, makes it very hard to follow along.

By: Andrea Giammarchi

Andrea Giammarchi — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 19:08:12 +0000

I can’t read anything about source code quality and I think this should be the first point.

By: insight

insight — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 18:33:04 +0000

@Tobie, I agree.

By: Tobie Langel

Tobie Langel — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:50:21 +0000

oh god!

Watch the upcoming flame-war!

Guys, the question is: “How do you choose one thatâ€™s right for you ?”

Not: “Which one do you prefer ?”

By: marat

marat — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:50:03 +0000

huh? Mootools has a standard interface and consistent design pattern. Also a great community, with frequent updates. So which “rear end” do you use? So far that’s +2 for mootools.

By: insight

insight — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:34:28 +0000

Would be nice if mooTools could stick to an API. Personally I think frameworks are like rear ends, we all have one, and think everyone elses smells bad.

By: Alex K.

Alex K. — Sun, 18 Mar 2007 17:19:01 +0000

Considerations were:

- Features
- Size
- Documentation
- cross-browser

And the winner was…..:

Mootools -> mootools.net

Size and documentation were the big sellers. Also an active user community.