ExtJs VS other javascript framework

[webfriend13]

<sub>Hi All,
I am using ExtJS for last 8 months and I am very pleased with the controls and features it provides. Now I need to persuade larger group to start using ExtJS. I want to prepare a slide-show which should cover following.
1) Why ExtJs.
2) How it is different from Jquery and other competitors?
3) List out the domains using ExtJS? (List of application from various domains that are making use of ExtJS).
4) How good is ExtJS support?
5) How big is ExtJS development community?

Thanks in advance</sub>

[ettavolt]

Actually, JQuery etc are not frameworks but only libraries. The only other framework I've heard is Dojo, but, unfortunately, I have no experience with it.
So, that is the difference - solutions based on framework are faster to develop, but usually works slower... until app grows large - and then it becomes faster, because framework allows higher-level optimizations.

[jadrake75]

I think in terms of frameworks there are three..... Ext JS, Dojo and SmartClient. Dojo is impressive (and I really like a lot of the changes they made in their latest version) but I have found Ext JS a little easier to work with and develop. SmartClient has rich UI controls (some would say richer than Ext JS) but doesn't have the same MVC/MVP application architecture model built into it unless you use their server side components (which in my mind is not a good choice to built a production web application). You are better off with a solid set of web-services running on the JAX-RS stack or other equivalent technologies and then having a light-weight JS based client. But your mileage will vary. There is also JavascriptMVC which adds a application framework to jQuery (and is very strong on testability) but jQuery-UI is nothing but a handful of controls and I have read there are huge compatability issues with the jQuery add-ons from the public domain (enough I have shied from them). Google Closure looked promising (afterall they did write GMail and Picasa in it) but the entire compile to production / run through a hosted translator during dev turned me off (or I would've sticked with GWT!) Last but not least in YUI, which does have an application framework, but is more of a widget set. They are nice, but a little old as it were. So that leaves you with two independents (ExtJS and SmartClient) and Dojo (heavily backed by IBM - but open source). Sorry the formatting here sucks - this is IE10 and the rich text editor does not allow new lines!!!!

[webfriend13]

HI Jadrake75,

Thank you for the reply.

[SeaSharp2]

> 1) Why ExtJs.
> 2) How it is different from Jquery and other competitors?

There are very few contenders that qualify as a full service JavaScript framework. jQuery generates a lot of noise but it is really a low level utility layer that supports a chaotic ecosystem, by contrast ExtJS gives you a readymade cohesive framework and productivity out of the box.

Dojo should in theory be an alternative but my day-job is based on Dojo and I know that things are not well in the Dojo camp. This autumn they released a major upgrade that has deprecated large regions of the old Dojo API, for example Dojo now has a new minimal version of ExtJS stores. Even worse, the two long established Dojo grids are to be superseded by a new grid called dGrid but this is not actually part of the official Dojo package instead it is offered by the semi official commercial force behind Dojo (SitePen). The SitePen dGrid has been in beta for over a year and during the autumn I had to offer apologies during product demos about manifest bugs in dGrid's scrolling behavior. I sense the glory days of Dojo have past and their attempt to overlay touch UI behavior over the main library is a source of future trouble.

> 4) How good is ExtJS support?

When the premium forum was open for public read access I got the impression is was good and there is the option to pay for higher levels of engagement.

> 3) List out the domains using ExtJS? (List of application from various domains that are making use of ExtJS).
> 5) How big is ExtJS development community?

Public stats suggest that jQuery dominates and everything else is insignificant, however the Google API cache cannot distinguish between trival usage of base jQuery and framework adoption by truely rich internet applications. Think of it this way, if Google could unleash a global software worm that measured lines of code executed daily around the planet they would probably conclude that Microsoft's Excel macro language is the most popular programming language.

Don't over strategise software tool selection, large project software development has a high failure rate even with a fair wind, so just select the tools that work today and ignore the dreaded phrase "strategic alignment". Those promoting such strategy will have a new one next year and you will have a completed project.

[webfriend13]

Hi SeaSharp2,

Thank you for the reply

[ssamayoa]

this is IE10 and the rich text editor does not allow new lines!!!!

Really?

So better port Webkit/Chrome to Windows tablets, isn't?

Regards.

[prd0000]

Anyone has experience with AngularJS? I've heard many good things for this framework.

[mankz]

Use AngularJS or any of the other 'great' MVC frameworks out there if you like writing HTML. Writing HTML to produce a web app is a bit like building a fancy 80-floor hotel, by putting one grain of sand in place after the other. Productivity is king!

I'd rather stay in this side of the pond:

Other frameworks deal with HTML’s shortcomings by either abstracting away HTML, CSS, and/or JavaScript or by providing an imperative way for manipulating the DOM.

[LesJ]

Anyone has experience with AngularJS? I've heard many good things for this framework.

If you are working mostly with templates, I'd check Backbone.js. Backbone has a dependency on jQuery and Underscore or Lo-dash, but you will almost certainly end up using RequireJS to load your templates and make your code more modular. These are all good libraries.

Ext JS is a component (widget) library and it competes with Dojo and YUI. If you need a component library, Ext JS would be a solid choice.