Comment by Ümit Seren on "Angular2 Dart - My experience so far"

I've re-visited GWT for a bit and it was as clunky and slow as always and it seems like it's hardly maintained and used by a very small number of people.

That's not really correct. GWT 2.8 supports Java8 syntax that means you can leverage lambdas which make async code even more concise than the ES6 version. Furthermore SuperDevMode is really very fast. It's also not true that it is only used by few people and not maintained (check the github logs: https://github.com/gwtproject/gwt/commits/master, most commits are from Google Members but also contribution from the community). Also GWT is used for Google Inbox, Google Spreadsheet and used to write business code once in java and use it in iOS, Android and the Web. GWT 2.8 supports a brand new JsInterop (zero cost abstraction) that currently even easier to use than the Dart's JsInterop. Google is also working on GWT 3.0 which will be a pure Java to ES6 transpiler and reduce the compiler complexity a lot. There is also work done on leveraging Typescripts type definitions for various JS libraries to automatically create JsInterop Java interfaces to be used from GWT.

That's not really correct. GWT 2.8 supports Java8 syntax that means you can leverage lambdas which make async code even more concise than the ES6 version.

I write code in Java8 daily, it's certainly an improvement over Java6 and Java7, but it's still very clunky loaded with boilerplate once you've started working in other languages, hence the reason I recently made the switch to Kotlin, all the Java8 benefits minus the boilerplate.

Furthermore SuperDevMode is really very fast.

This was not my experience unfortunately, maybe I had to give it some more RAM via Xmx params or add some special startup params, the old GWT was heavy on RAM if my memory serves me correctly and running my CPU into the ceiling. I was looking for out-of-the-box experience though, not having to tune / tweak anything.

 that currently even easier to use than the Dart's JsInterop

Yes, the GWT-JS interop is much more mature than Dart's JS-interop, but in this project this was not something that interested me much as I was looking for a pure implementation in one language.

 Also GWT is used for Google Inbox, Google Spreadsheet and used to write business code once in java and use it in iOS, Android and the Web.

I'm aware of this, AWS is using it as well, but I could argue that it's being used because that's what it was written in originally. Google didn't rewrite AdWords in GWT, in fact, they moved away from GWT to Dart to be able to move quicker, Google Cloud's new dashboard is also in Angular if I'm not mistaken (not sure if it's using Dart though). I had several projects in GWT myself, awesome tech for its time when browsers were super incompatible and JS was super broken. JS got a lot better now, browsers became a lot better, transpilers no longer need to compile a separate JS file per browser, some minor polyfills are enough to get it cross-browser compatible these days.

  and used to write business code once in java and use it in iOS, Android and the Web

This is currently an advantage if this is your business requirements, Flutter in Dart would obviously give me these same benefits in the future, currently my business requirements are met using Cordova / PhoneGap which works good enough with Dart for my requirements until Flutter eventually makes it debut.

   Google is also working on GWT 3.0 which will be a pure Java to ES6 transpiler and reduce the compiler complexity a lot

Is Google writing any new projects in GWT ? The reason it needs maintenance by Google is since Google has huge products still using it. I stand corrected about the maintenance, there was a time when things slowed down considerably after the handover to the steering committee a few years ago, it has indeed picked up again.

Also looking at jobs in GWT, Indeed gave me about 600 results, Angular gave me about 12000 results and retraining somebody who already knows Angular TypeScript / JavaScript into using Angular Dart would be considerably easier than getting somebody started in GWT. Based on the decline on in available jobs in GWT, it's probably fair to make the argument that GWT's usebase shrunk a lot.

If I had to choose a piece of tech for a Java heavy shop, it would be tight between TeaVM and GWT, KotlinJS would be another option (if it's a long-term project that doesn't need to have perfect JS immediately) or even Kotlin with TeaVM. If I could compile Kotlin to GWT, maybe the appeal would be more, I haven't tested if Kotlin could be compiled with GWT superDev compiler.

Thanks for the comment :-)

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