Suppose that the key to RIA is to have the server send something other than HTML to a smarter client. That might mean AJAX and JavaScript.
I love JavaScript – I call it LiveScript and pretend that I am running Self under Win32. But what if a small company wants to take over its web work rather than just replace their current web vendor? They cannot start hiring java developers and unix administrators, and a Prototype javascript guru and a CSS person. Perhaps they could hire a parttime designer and a fulltime developer, or give motivated employees an opportunity to fill the spots. Enter RIA without Javascript.
The key RIA technology today appears to be XMLHttpRequest as an alternative to HttpRequest for dynamic content in a web browser. It is often assumed that this means AJAX and Javascript, but it does not. ZK is a project devoted to RIA via AJAX without Javascript (well, take that with a grain of salt.)
And then there is Curl. Curl came out of MIT but appears largely absent on the North American scene, a bit like Roxxen and Pike. Nevertheless, at curlr.org there is a clear prescription for XMLHttpRequest without JavaScript.
Why should JavaScript concern the small company? For every reason laid out by Google to justify the use of the Google Web Toolkit, or GWT. Now, even with the Instantiations GWT Designer for Eclipse, the company will be looking for a senior developer, if not their own web guru.
But why would taking on your own company web projects mean competing to hire a Java developer? Companies in the past have taken employees with business knowledge and evolved them into top Smalltalk developers. That is in the very nature of Smalltalk.
Unless you are building electronic devices, though, taking a person with business knowledge and training them as a C or Forth programmer would likely be folly. Expert System shells were different – there you could evolve your own staff from a business area expert into an information system expert.
There are other options: Rebol is one. With Rebol, one language is all that is needed for the web project.
Still, for a gentle learning curve, it would be hard to beat Curl. It is a different business model and it is popular in Japan and elsewhere in southeast Asia. It could also mean competitive advantage for a small firm whose product is under price-point pressure from a larger firm with a bigger web presence. While there are licensing fees, they are not prohibitive, as were fees for, say, the Eiffel Windows library.
Ordinarily, taking on your own web projects means sacrificing the dynamic web content that an outside vendor could enable. But for an example of Curl at work, just visit Flickr.
Oh, and about hiring that Flash developer who not only knows ActionScript but who also was in on the latest Adobe Apollo Beta … the Basic Language used the $ sign. VBScript for ASP pages still does. But Javascript for the small company may require more like $$$.
If you still want to go with JavaScript, you may want to visit the http://www.openlaszlo.org/ home page or the OpenLaszlo article on wikipedia, or check out the article on OpenLaszlo at newsforge.
I do love LiveScript! I mean Self …
