Temporary Exile

As usual, Joel called it. He predicted the rise in JavaScript toolkits followed by smart compilers which turn other languages into JS. Though there are a number of neat frameworks out there which leverage some of the true power which lies within JS as a language (most notably SproutCore), there are some which go a step further. Here are some of my favorites.

• GWT – The Google Web Toolkit lets you write Java using some handy little toolkit libraries. The Java gets compiled to JavaScript and XHTML so you don’t have to muck about with markup and element manipulation anymore. The compiler produces very optimized code which runs fast, takes up very little space and is also portable.
• Pyjamas – A port of GWT to Python. In other words, compiles Python to JS.
• Rubyjs – A port of GWT to Ruby.
• Parenscript – Common Lisp to JavaScript compiler. This is actually hilarious though it seems to be geared towards server-side JS generation.

Any others that should be on here? Personally, I’m waiting for GWT to be ported to Ada so we can have the world’s most stable JavaScript compiler which will then allow us to write the world’s most verifiable suite of web applications.