Re: RubyOnRails and Intraweb

Have you taken a look at Morfik (www.morfik..com).
They have an IDE and you can choice between 1 of 4 languages:
Pascal, C#, Basic and Java.

They have a patent pending technology that converts high level languages down to AJAX code.
You never have to touch any HTML.

Their Pascal has the same syntax as Delphi.

Your applications will have a built-in Apache web server...so deployment is a snap.
Just compile, copy and run.

Looks interesting for newbies. However, like all of these other frameworks that generate code for you, sooner or later you are going to need to do something that it cannot do for you.

Ajax is not that hard at all. Once you learn some basic DOM,XML, and JavaScript, you are pretty good to go.

I do support and use the basic libraries like Prototype, Dojo, Scriptaculous, etc. which are easily enough maintainable (after all you have the javascript source), save you from a mountainous headache of cross browser issues, and have done most of the hard work for you.

AJAX can be done in and with anything. It doesn't matter what back end you use, Delphi, Kylix, C/C++, C#, Perl, Python, Java. etc. Companies and people just act as though it matters, so they can peddle their wares on unsuspecting people. All Ajax is, is Java Script using an XMLHTTP Object, pure and simple. No magic, no new paradigm, and truly nothing new under the sun. What is new, is that people are just now turning onto it, via the wonders of what Google did with it.

You do not need some fancy IDE to do AJAX. You do not need an integrated tool. And for you who are doing serious web work, or are about to embark on that journey, I would warn you against these Auto-coders that create Java Script for you, under the covers. Sure for quick and dirty, they may do the trick and impress you. But in the long run, they are going to back you into a wall; rapidly!

There is really no substitute for learning Java Script, XML, and the HTML DOM, if you want to do serious Ajax work. Sure, you might impress your friends, and even the boss, with one of these quick tools. But when the Boss ask you to do something the tool isn't designed to do, you are going to find yourself in a quagmire, you may not be able to get out of.

As far as the back end goes, any language or tool that can handle HTTP requests and responses, can handle Ajax. That includes just about every language.

Now give me a good JavaScript IDE (are we listening Code Gear :)), and I would be in heaven! So far, the best I have seen is in Eclipse, coupled with the MyEclipse plugin package. But it leaves something to be desired as well.

I do recommend highly that anyone doing AJAX download Firefox, the Firefox Web Programmers tools, Venkman, and FireBug. These are invaluable for Ajax work.




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Relevant Pages

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