Web Development

Goodbye Java, Hello World

As mentioned in my previous post, I’m about to move back to freelance web design, and away from full-time Java web development. As of Monday, I will no longer be a contractor, and will be partnering with Stan PR as their web technologist. So, I’ve been re-assessing my skillset, and re-examining the current state of the ever-changing world of web. I think it’s time to say goodbe to Java, and hello to a new set of web frameworks and technologies.

Java is a great language, and well suited for the large projects I’ve worked on in the past, particularly banking. However, I choose to specialise in web application development, and whilst Java is an extremely robust language, it is not the quickest language to develop in.

I certainly intend to keep my Java skills up to date, but I think the framework stack is fairly well established for the while: Java + Spring + Hibernate + MVC (WebWork would be my choice). This framework stack delivers pretty well, and whilst improvements will come along, I don’t envisage a sea-change in how web-applications are delivered, for a while.

I do however forsee some fairly fundamental groundshift in how web sites, or more precisely, web applications are developed (not delivered). The change in emphasis is that functionality is moving from the (web) server to the client (browser).

These emerging technologies (and challenges) place new demands on the web designer/developer. Gone are the days of a web designer slicing and dicing a photoshop image into a slick, brochure web site. Nowadays the developer must learn how to programme the client.

The demand for Rich Internet Applications (RIA) is moving the web forward with giant leaps. AJAX/XHR is now well established, and in recognition of this requirement, the latest web browsers have worked hard to improve Javascript performance, as have the developers of the cross-browser Javascript libraries (JQuery, Prototype, DoJo, MooTools etc).

The next evolutionary stage is to provide support for offline-browsing, whereby browsers can synchronise locally held data with the web server. Firofox supports this, as does Google Gears, Adobe AIR and Microsoft Silverlight. The HTML5 spec. will eventually provide some standards around this feature.

These two technologies, alongside the adoption of next-generation mobile phones (3G iPhones are imminent) plus a fervent appetite for social networking(FaceBook, LinkedIn, Twitter) are driving a demand for RIA. Savvy business leaders are recognising this; The phrase Digital PR is becomign common parlance. I, along with Stan PR, hope to be able to fulfill these demands.

So, from a technology perspective, I need to re-skill. Java will always be there, but it’s time to concentrate on client technologies. Look forward to blog entries about AJAX, Adobe Flex, iPhone development and Social Networking.

I’ll also be blogging about PHP, or more specifically, CakePHP. Why? Well, that’s a blog post of it’s own, but if I’m going to abandon Java, then I still need to deliver web content. PHP is quick and easy. CakePHP is a mature PHP framework providing a wealth of functionality. Sure, Ruby or Python are more powerful languages, but for now, I need to get up and running as quickly as is possible. As of Monday, I enter a whole new world.