Now with GWT 2, what are the advantages over wicket and likewise?

Question

Apart from the argument of Wicket\'s simplicity (that is, Wicket is a simpler system IMHO) and GWT\'s responsiveness in the client (GWT\'s client side state and JavaScript -

Answer 1

It's somewhat not fair to compare GWT with wicket (or likewise) since they are really coming from 2 different camps. The former is a framework for building JavaScript front-end applications while the latter is a classic Java web application framework.

So the points below are not as much as GWT vs. wicket but rather general list that was compiled when we decided to use GWT for advanced JavaScript/AJAX web application:

• hides drawbacks of JavaScript and cross-browser support by allowing to develop in Java and compiling to browser-specific flavor of JavaScript automatically (this is not completely true due to The Law of Leaky Abstractions but it's a major reason why GWT was created in first place - see Reveling in Constraints);
• Java is preferred by many Java developers when it gets down to advanced JavaScript/AJAX UI;
• Java development environment and tools are fully supported: Eclipse plugin, debugger, refactoring, hosted mode in Eclipse;
• JUnit tests are supported both with mock objects and in hosted mode;
• Clean integration with Java back-end (GWT-RPC);
• Relatively rich set of UI widgets with uniform look and feel;
• Availability of third-party widgets, frameworks, patterns, and examples (still limited and with a long wish list);
• Google support drives both wider acceptance/popularity and rapid advancement of the framework;
• maturing framework with 1.6+ and forthcoming 2.0 releases: (eventbus, event handlers, GUI architecture with MVP pattern, compiler optimization, etc.).