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Closed 11 years ago.
I'm going to be developing a small web application for internal use at my company. What is the best Javascript framework to use with it? I'm not a graphic designer but I do have experience writing desktop applications so I think a library strong on containers and widgets would be good. I'd prefer not to spend money and I don't think my management will go for open sourcing the web application. My web application will be written in Grails so it needs a good plugin. What frameworks do you recommend?
I was leaning towards ExtJS but I'm concerned about the license. Does the FLOSS exception apply?
I also considered Dojo but old answered questions suggested that the quality was poor. Is that still the case?
What about GWT?
jQuery seems too open ended for my use, with only a few widgets and a seemingly difficult to browse widget library. Is that assessment correct?
Others?
Prototype JS (my recommendation) and Mootools
jQuery is the industry standard, used by a lot of companies of varying size worldwide. If you worry about the interface there is jQuery UI, which extends jQuery and provides a number of user interface elements. I would suggest to look at it.
Sproutcore is free and works with grails. It has a good library of default components as well.
Dojo has improved a lot. I used the framework recently and they cover many different aspects (from widget library to data repository abstractions). They are improving documentation with tutorials. In addition, you can follow a declarative approach (using tags on your HTML elements) reducing the amount of javascript code.
However, the choice depends on your specific needs. Frameworks such as jquery or mootools are great for manipulating the DOM easily. Howver, if you are looking for a consistent widget framework maybe Dojo or yahoo YUI can be more suited to your needs.
If it's a small project and you are not already familiar with GWT, you'll find it tough to justify the investment in the time spend on learning. GWT's true potentials starts shining when you are familiar with the toolset and development/debugging/deployment workflow.
ExtJS requires paid license for commercial use. But if you can afford it, it might be the fastest route to a good-looking app with powerful UI.
JQuery is good but as someone already pointed out, you need to pick and choose your plugins and resolve version incompatibility issues on your own. For example, if you need an editable grid, jqGrid is a good option, but you'll need to figure out which version will work with your jquery version and other plugins. Similary things like form-validation, masked input etc. often require third-party plugins (or rolling your own). It can become tedious if you are working solo and on a tight deadline.
In my experience, DOJO has much higher learning curve than most other popular JS libraries.
Summary:
GWT, if the project is large-enough to justify the learning effort (or you can reuse the skills in other projects)
jQuery, if you have time and patience for integrating myriad of plugins on your own.
ExtJS, if you value time and convenience over money
DOJO, probably never ;)
Related
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Closed 9 years ago.
I want to develop an Android application with HTML5. Application has some basic UI with data which needs to be fetched from server.
I have only basic knowledge of the HTML5 and CSS; But I am new to JavaScript and JQuery.
Which is essential to learn, JavaScript or JQuery? Or I need to learn both?
Any sample code for mobile application screen and request/response will be really appreciated.
First of all you should decide which framework you want to use. The next step is to setup environment. Let's say you want to code with PhoneGap, than you need Eclipse and Android SDK, etc. The list of software you will find in a description.
Actually in my view it is not necessary to use jQuery or its mobile version for development. Sometimes you only need to create an up to 5-6 pages app with some basic animation which is easy to make with CSS3 Transition3D.
However, when you plan to create a big app with complicated business logic, than you may need to use some framework like Sencha or Angular (it depends on your needs).
Talking about frameworks you must understand that every framework is for certain purpose only. I mean, it is ridiculous to use, for instance, knockoutJS for big apps, because the only thing it has been developed for is data binding between model and view. Moreover, in many cases you don't need a framework at all.
Anyway, first of all you should to learn JavaScript basics. I mean how it works, in which steps a code is being processed, that is a function and what in a prototype and so on. Otherwise, you will never know how to write an effective code or how to optimize your code for better performance. It is critical for a mobile devices as they are not such powerful as a desktops. Also you need to understand how a browser works (rendering, network, etc).
That's my view.
You learn here javascript and jquery by simple way
You can build apps using html, css, javascript with phone gap
You can use cross mobile platform.Sencha touch is also one of the cross platform to start.
http://www.sencha.com/products/touch
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Closed 9 years ago.
I am thinking to use Javascript Framework for my project. But I am confused, should I use a Framework or use simple Javascript. Moreover, one more point I want to make I am not much experienced in Javascript. What would be your suggestions for one who is still at beginner level in Javascript?
Regarding beginner doubts:
I was at beginner level JavaScript when I started working with AngularJS last year. To learn the basics of it is really easy. What's even better is that it helps you do fairly complicated things with very few lines of code. Most of the code you write will be what AngularJS calls directives, which also turn out to be the most reusable pieces.
Some of the advanced concepts can be difficult to understand and will take some time though, but overall, I would say that progressing through AngularJS has given me a better understanding of JavaScript.
This was my experience at least, and this post does not aim to sell AngularJS. In my opinion, learning a programming language is, most of the time at least, better done by digging into the raw features of it on your own. But with JavaScript -- and all its quirks -- I found it very helpful to have something to guide me -- in this case, AngularJS.
Regarding frameworks for projects:
When you want to have a large application, with a lot of code and interactions, I've found that frameworks help you a lot. There's a boom of JavaScript frameworks right now, all of which are pretty good. If you want to extend HTML and do declarative programming, there's AngularJS. If you want to work at different levels of abstraction, there's Ember.js. If you want to write most of the implementation yourself, then use Backbone.js. If you're doing a lot of GUI stuff, ExtJS. Most of these frameworks will help you write cleaner, modular and more testable code which greatly improves maintainability in the long run.
The downsides could possibly be:
learning curve - but if you are at beginner level, then you shouldn't worry about this.
overkill - for some projects you really don't need to include 500KB of frameworks and libraries
mismatch - and this, I think, might be the most important factor. For example some frameworks are more suited visual stuff, like charts and animations, while others are good for something else.
Conclusion:
determine what you want to achieve,
find the right tool for the job,
the framework/library (or neither if not required) will be of great help then
and, lastly, more like a general rule:
don't be afraid of doing things right just because it seems too unknown to you
Libraries can be very good. They can help you segment your code, they can help you do a lot of things more easily. I have begun to find backbone particularly helpful for AJAXy web aps. With JQuery, $('#element').hide(); is far easier than document.getElementById('element').style.display = "none";, and JQuery .toggle(); is even better than that. In most cases, they deal with cross browser issues for you very easily as well.
From a design/architecture standpoint, the big disadvantage is the overhead. Once you start using libraries and plug-ins for said libraries, who knows how the code quality is.
From a personal development standpoint, the biggest risk is that you will begin to use libraries as a crutch, and never bother to learn why or how these libraries do what they do. I hate when I see a web page with 15,000 (exageration) <script> blocks in the header, and they leverage perhaps 1/10th of the power of all the plugins and frameworks that they are using. It would be far better to write 5-10 lines of code, than to have an extra HTTP request, and load an entire JS module just to use one function that it contains.
My personal recommendation is to use libraries, but always endeavor to understand what they are doing, and to challenge yourself to write at least part of the JavaScript yourself, until you're at a point where you know what's going on inside JS, and why it's going on. Once you get to that point, you will be much better able to evaluate if a library or plug-in is really what you need, or if you should just write something yourself.
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Closed 10 years ago.
I'm trying to decide between Sencha Architect 2 and Wavemaker. They both seem very similar. Of course Wavemaker is completely open source, and Sencha is only partially open source. For this reason I'm leaning towards Wavemaker, but given the learning curve with either, I'd hate to find myself with less options later on, just because I tried to save some money. Here are my main concerns.
1- I want to be able to sell my application without giving away my source code.
2- Productivity of course is paramount. Are they both about the same?
3- Database development tools.
4- Easy of deployment and hosting options.
Opinions either way are much appreciated.
wavemaker is for me best tool for now..
1.on javascript can use some tools for obfuscate code
2.WYSIWYG..visual tool with cool ajax widgets drag and drop and offcourse all free
3.have is model part for can create your db
4.cloudfoundry
Full disclosure: I work for VMware on WaveMaker.
I felt compelled to correct a few things from Rene’s post. WaveMaker is not strictly a backend framework. WaveMaker is a visual, drag-and-drop development tool. Applications created with WaveMaker contain a backend framework (Java, Spring) and a frontend framework (JavaScript, Dojo). Developers enhance their UI by writing JavaScript code.
The comparison to GWT implies that UI development in WaveMaker is done using Java. Although Java is part of the WaveMaker framework, developers do not use Java code to enhance UI functionality. The back-end code is Java, which is used to access databases and other backend services. In most cases WaveMaker developers do not need to modify the Java code. Since WaveMaker produces standard Java/Spring applications it’s easy for a Java developer to extend the backend functionality.
This question doesn't make much sense to me. Are you comparing just the IDE-s?
Anyway, your options look like very different things. One is primarily a front-end framework and another one a back-end framework. One produces Java apps, another one JavaScript. Maybe you should compare Wavemaker against Ext GWT instead, which is Java-based.
Given your point 3, your choice should be straight-forward as there are no database development tools in any of those Sencha front-end development tools that you seem to be referring to. There might be something in Ext GWT, but I'm not at all familiar with that.
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Closed 10 years ago.
I will develop a commercial web application based on PHP and MySQL database.
Now, I'm guessing about the JavaScript framework. I find several interesting frameworks like ExtJS, JQWidgets or DHTMLX.
Some of their components can be tested here:
ExtJS
JQWidgets
DHTMLX
However, I don't manage to find a recent comparisons of them.
Could you give me your opinion (advantages / drawbacks) about these frameworks:
Performance on huge data (especialy for grids filtering or sorting)
Licence costs
Compatibility with web browsers
Is it easy to find an information inside the documentation?
Are they buggy?
Usable with SSL connections?
Other points
Thanks.
There's really no other sure way of evaluating than trying them out by yourself. You have to make trade-offs and these hugely depend on the kind of application you are planning to write.
If it's a small app, it might be a good chance to try out any one of them. If it's a large one you better have some experience with all your choices to make an informed decision. It looks you aren't really experienced with none of them - in such case you are in a much worse position as you don't really know what to look for when choosing.
Also, besides the features, there's usability and convenience. All these frameworks involve quite different coding styles. Some of these might be more to your liking than others.
It's hard to help you with such a general question. You need to work it out by yourself. Asking more specific questions and being more specific about your app can help along the way.
I have played around with ExtJS and JQWIDGETS, I do like both, however, thus far I have found JQWIDGETS to be extremely easy and quick and the support provided on the Forum is excellent.
EXTJS on the other hand, is also a powerful product which boasts its architect EDI. But does also make simple tasks slightly difficult and the support/responses on their forums can be very slow or none existent...
At the end of the day, like anything, comes down to personal preference. Good Luck!
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Closed 11 years ago.
I keep hearing about many JavaScript frameworks i.e.
jQuery
YUI
DOJO
ExtJs
Prototype
Mootools
Scriptaculous
Spry
and a few more.
Can anyone please tell me what specific purpose, do these framework serve?
I am a user of jQuery only.
This is a short description, based on my experience and knowledge (and IMO):
jQuery -> is the most popular javascript library available (great support available on the net and a lot of plugin written for it), it's simple for all (included designers). It's the best choice for dom manipulation and to write code quickly (ideal for front-end)
DOJO -> advanced js library which offers mechanism for loading js "modules" as necessary
ExtJs -> one of the most advanced and powerful js library. It's build with OOP in mind, it offers an huge number of UI components. It's not intended for designers, it's pretty heavy (size of sources). It's the ideal choice for advanced backoffice UI
Prototype -> the evil! Simply avoid this library, it extends default js objects by causing a lot of troubles
YUI -> similar to ExtJS (ExtJs was born as an extension of YUI, so if you have to choose one of the two go for ext :P)
Mootools -> I don't know :P
Scriptaculous -> as far I know, the best for js animations (it was one of the firs library for this task)
Spry -> it introduces some new "concepts" such dataSet. Few people use it :(
These all are javascript libraries, more or less they share the common purpose albeit with different syntax:
Cross-browser issues handling
Animation
Custom dialogs and widgets
Ability to write lesser code
Specific selector engine
Creation/Modification of DOM
Event Handling
Utility Functions
AJAX
Following article is also interesting to read:
Compare JavaScript frameworks
Given they are all JS frameworks they serve almost the same purpose as jQuery serves, by they differ in things such as ease of use, feature richness, UI components, shielding from browser specific functionality, performance, and many others.