I have been digging into the one-two punch of Google Web Toolkit (GWT) and Google App Engine (GAE).  Both are part of Google’s Platform as a Service cloud offering that is becoming quite solid and mature.

GWT has been around for a couple of years, but only now do I appreciate what it really offers: structured programming tools for web applications.  OO, widget-based, debugging, etc.  GWT’s approach of coding in Java and then compiling to HTML/Javascript is 100% solid and very powerful.  Yes, you lose some control when allowing Google to call the shots on how your HTML/Javascript is produced, but what you get for giving up that control is impressive.

GAE is just a year old, but it is already production worthy.  Google’s hosted web environment is enormously scalable and rock solid.  With the introduction of Java support, GAE has a large number of robust tools for creating full-featured web apps.

My next step: creating a proof of concept app that leverages both GWT and GAE.