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Most software these days is delivered in the form of web applications, and the move towards cloud computing will only emphasize this trend.
Web apps consist of client and server parts, where the client part has been getting bigger lately to deliver a richer user experience.
This split has implications for developers, because the technologies used on the client and server parts are often different.
The client is ruled by HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, while the server is most often developed using JVM or .NET based languages like Java and C#.
Disadvantages of Different Client and Server Technologies
Developers of web applications risk becoming either specialists confined to a single part of the stack or polyglot programmers.
Polyglot programming is the practice of knowing and using many programming languages. There are both advantages and disadvantages associated with polyglot programming. I believe the overriding disadvantage is the context switching involved, which degrades productivity and opens the doors to extra bugs.
Being a specialist has advantages and disadvantages as well. A big disadvantage I see is the “us versus them”, or “not my problem” culture that can arise. In general, Agile teams prefer generalists.
Bringing Server Technologies to the Client
Many attempts have been made at bridging the gap between client and server. Most of these attempts were about bringing server-side technologies to the client.
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Java on the client has failed to reached widespread adoption, and now that many people advice to disable Java applets altogether because of security reasons it seems increasingly unlikely that it ever will.
Bringing .NET to the client has likewise failed as Silverlight adoption continues to drop.
Another idea is to translate from server to client technologies. Many languages can now be compiled to JavaScript. The most mature effort is Google Web Toolkit (GWT), which translates from Java. The main problem with GWT is that it supports only a small subset of Java.
All in all I don’t feel there currently is a satisfactory way of using server technologies on the client.
Bringing Client Technologies to the Server
So what about the reverse? There is really only one client-side technology worth looking at today: JavaScript. The only other rival, Flash, is losing out quickly due to lack of support from Apple and the rise of HTML5.
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JavaScript on the server is starting to make inroads, thanks to the Node.js platform.
It is used by the Cloud9 IDE, for example, and supported by Platform-as-a-Service providers like CloudFoundry and Heroku.
What do you think?
If I had to put my money on any unification approach, it would be Node.js.
Do you agree? What needs to happen to make this a common way of developing web apps? Please let me know your thoughts in the comments.
Filed under: Cloud Computing, Software Development Tagged: .NET, Agile, Apple, applet, C#, cloud computing, Cloud9, CloudFoundry, CSS, Flash, GWT, Heroku, HTML, HTML5, Java, JavaScript, JVM, node.js, polyglot programming, security, Silverlight, webapp Image may be NSFW.
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