i want to try learning GAEJ but i dont know where to start.. do i need to start learning java first? then xml and then proceed to GAEJ? or go straight for GAEJ w/o learning java and xml? any suggestion would be appreciated...
It depends on what you are doing. You actually don't need to know any Java at all to host an application on GAE. HTML and the Eclipse Plugin are good enough.
If you want to do more complex things, though such as using the Datastore or User Authentication, then I suggest learning Java. You can try to use GAE as an outlet to learn Java, i.e. learn them simultaneously.
I don't know if you've seen Google's getting started documentation yet, but it's got a great DIY tutorial for getting an app up and running.
You are going to be at a bit of a disadvantage if you don't know Java yet, but that's no reason not to dive right in to GAEJ -- just make sure you have the Java API handy to look things up as you go.
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Please bear with me if this is a silly question. But thought of getting an idea.
We have a very sophisticated Selenium Webdriver-Java framework. But now some parts of our application is being implemented in AngularJS. We would like to use protractor for test automation. But we have some API in the existing framework which we would like to reuse. Is there a possibility to do so or do we need to re-write all the existing API in protractor?
Thanks
Not probably the answer you are looking for. But, this can give you some hope.
Unfortunately there is no protractor java port at this moment. I use Selenium C# and my project started using some Angular recently. And, fortunately, there is a Protractor-net project done by some great people to accomplish same thing you are struggling with. I must say, if your project is big enough to leverage some time to write a java port for protractor you can follow this project easily. It's not that extensive. I am personally using it and started writing about this on my blog
Some one is trying to develop jProtractor - An angular/protractor implementation for Java Selenium API. https://github.com/caarlos0/jProtractor
This is still under development(not in a position to use yet), but this could be the right tool for people who are in similar situation as me.
I'm about to start developing a simple reporting tool for tasks in international projects. In a nutshell: using the tool, a project is created, defining team members, tasks, and work packages. Team members will be asked to periodically submit reports on the work they've done (related to tasks and/or work packages). These reports will be stored and accessed trough the tool.
I'll use Google App Engine (client requirement) and its datastore (using JDO). But I want to ask you for advice on the frontend part: JSP looks pretty messy for non Java developers... any other idea???
Thanks!!!
Seems like at the moment it's either java or python. However, you may want to look at Grails. GSPs might looks a little less 'messy'. I'm suggesting Grails based on your description of the project, that I suspect will turn out anything but simple later on. You might end up being glad for the mix of constraints and flexibility that Grails will afford.
JSP doesn't need to be any messier than other similar HTML presentation frameworks, it really comes down to implementation. That being said, it is old Java technology which means it's not being kept up to date, and finding a good single source of documentation is difficult.
If you don't want to use JSP, there are other frameworks you can use, you just need to make sure they're compatible with Google App Engine.
The new kid on the block is the Play framework, and that's a Java MVC framework similar to Ruby on Rails. You can find a tutorial here: http://viralpatel.net/blogs/first-play-framework-gae-siena-application-tutorial-example/
If you're going to use Spring, check out this question: Alternatives to JSP for Spring MVC view layer
For a front end developer, if the code is separated correctly, you won't have to know anything about Java since there shouldn't be any Java mixed in with the HTML. If that's your only worry, then I would just go with JSP to keep things simple unless the team has experience with another technology.
I want to develop apps on GAE using Clojure with Compojure, using either Eclipse or Idea, emacs is not a bad idea :P
So which are the best ways to do this? I don't think that I want to use leiningen because I believe that maven can be very strong if you pass the learning curve - I read this blog http://compojureongae.posterous.com/tag/googleappengine which 'till now is one of the best source of information.
If you will have to do this, what will be your approach? Or what will you recommend me?
Is this plugin -> http://code.google.com/p/maven-gae-plugin/ ok? because if I use that plugin I can include in the pom.xml the clojure.jar and basically I'm ready to go, right? Is something similar for IntelliJ IDEA?
Any other suggestions?
And which is your way to do this?
There recently was an announcement on the Clojure mailing list of a library called appengine-magic which tries to abstract away the boilerplate related to GAE:
http://github.com/gcv/appengine-magic
http://osdir.com/ml/clojure/2010-09/msg00942.html
Just a some links. I think if you really want that combination you have to do some stoff your self but this should help.
Compojure on GAE http://compojureongae.posterous.com/
Clojure on GAE http://www.hackers-with-attitude.com/
I have only very basic experience with HTML/CSS and have quite a bit of experience with testing software and web apps from a consumer perspective. I'd love to launch a web application that plays nicely with Google services, similar to some of the apps you'd find on the Google Apps Marketplace, such as ManyMoon, time to note, Socialwok, etc. I'm a huge Google fan and would like to build something that's well integrated with other Google services.
If you were a total beginner and wanted to build a complex app like one of examples above (project management, CRM, etc), where would you start?
If you worked your ass off 18 hours a day, 24/7, how fast could you do it?
I've dabbled into various languages and development frameworks, and read about which apps are using what languages but it's hard to figure out what would be most beneficial to jump into. Ruby on Rails, PHP, Google Web Toolkit, AppEngine. The list goes on and on. I want to be able to build and launch my own scalable web app.
Thanks.
One bit of advice: There is no shortcut for proper experience. It took me 4 years to come to a point where I can build enterprise level web apps - even though I had the dream of building one immediately, right from the beginning. Start small and build your way up.
Even though I did hate this advice when I was receiving it... Don't try to build the next Facebook platform right now.
Now, to answer your question:
Skills:
You must be absolutely clear about server-client interaction with respect to HTTP. You will never understand AJAX fully without understanding HTTP and behind the scenes of browsers. Note: being clear and knowing everything are two different things. Be clear about HTTP.
Learn about HTML/CSS and JavaScript standards to some extent to know that they bahave differently in different browsers. In the grand scheme of things, they are not that important if you are okay with some framework that handles these for you (I recommend JQuery and JQuery UI).
Learn a little about Linux, Apache, PHP.
How to go about it:
To develop web-apps, you could start with the LAMP stack - Linux + Apache + MySQL + PHP.
First build a small web app that does something trivial - like saving and retrieving user's stuff using AJAX and a nice UI or something. I'd recommend jQuery and jQueryUI for JavaScript and UI frameworks.
Then, build a small web app that just gets data from some Google service, given a user's credentials.. I am not Google expert but I guess Google provides APIs for some services(?).
Then build an app where two people can share their data coming from a Google's service or something to that effect.
Then add your own fancy stuff.
It goes on like that.
If you are a .Net person, you could go with.. Windows + IIS + MS SQL Server + ASP.Net3.5/VB/C#. Guess what? StackOverflow is build on that stack :)
Learning about and using an MVC framework is also a good idea - ASP.Net MVC or something similar for PHP.
Minor clarification - By Google-friendly did you mean SEO-friendly? If so, Google-friendly and web-app don't go well together.
It makes sense to build a Google-friendly website not a web-app.
I would start by
brainstorming a hands-on project
identify the skills you will need to achieve it
learn them as you work through the project
set progress goals and celebrate small victories
For most people 18 hrs/day 24/7 sounds a little overly optimistic. A reasonable goal would be to form an interesting project idea and research the needed skills the first week, work through a few tutorials and maybe apply your own functionality the second week, build something 'complete' the third week, then take a step back and take another look at your original goal.
As far as choosing a project, I find a notepad helps. I'll be somewhere and think, 'wouldn't it be nice if...' and I'll go look for a solution that provides that 'what if' and find it doesn't exist. So there you go.
I would also have a look to one of the top voted questions here on Stack Overflow:
What should a developer know before building a public web site.
Has anybody got any real world stories build mobile web sites with NetBiscuits?
Someone told me it was the next big thing in mobile development (http://www.netbiscuits.com/home) and it looks pretty good from their site. Just wondered if anybody (besides them) has actually used it.
From a few months time working with it, I can say that they're indeed one of the best (if not the best) out there. The support is also insanely quick and good.
Only thing making me stop using it is the price. Especially if you're a small company and want to use their POI feature.
However I have yet to find a good replacement. May end up rolling my own version...
Edit: Related question.
They have created an entire xml (bml) based markup language that emulates html that has a very steep learning curve. I would seriously reconsider using it.
I have seen it working nicely. It also supports ASP.NET controls SDK that can be used to write ASP.NET app from Visual Studio. Once this app is deployed on your premise, you can use live bridge agent to connect this app to a Live Bridge server that Net Biscuits hosts. Your app is called a backend app in this case. This is a very useful feature when you do want to have Forms capability in your app and also want it to be accessible on NetBiscuits platform.
Check http://kb.netbiscuits.com/tactile/edc/livebridge_help.html. BiscuitML is also easier to grasp.
Look out for performance issues though. Customers in Australia have had response time issues - probably due to the Cloud Platform being located in USA/UK.