Dart or AngularJS

[Dieter Quickfend]

I've been looking for a good, very rich, VM-independent web framework. Vaadin I liked except that decent layouts are next to impossible. So I started looking on the client-side.

I want to learn either AngularJS or Dart. Dart is newer and covers more areas it seems. Problem is that it's google-specific, and Microsoft and Apple aren't going to do their best to enable it. Luckily there's the javascript compiler, but how will it perform on a page with 100+ Dart classes?

I've been using mostly JSF component libraries, and done some stuff in Vaadin and JQuery... I'm more of a backend guy historically, but I'm trying to make some more UI inroads so I can make something good-looking in the browser. Anything there that binds well with a Java EE stack?

[Bear Bibeault]

I personally wouldn't go the Dart route anymore than I"d go a Microsoft-proprietary route. Same reasons. Bear I'm mind that Dart is primarily a language, and AngularJS is a JavaScript framework. Not exactly orange and oranges.

AngularJS is a fine framework if you want an all-ecompassing, everything-you-do-is-in-Angluar, platform. It's a bit too intrusive for my tastes. If you like stuff like vaadin (I most certainly do not), it might be for you.

I'm currently enjoying the more modular approach of Backbone with Handlebars templates.

[Bear Bibeault]

Footnote: it should be no surprise to anyone who's been reading CodeRanch for any time that my preference is to smaller, more modular, frameworks on the client, just as it was when I was working mostly on the server.

[Dieter Quickfend]

Thanks for the response, Bear! I'm looking at the two and they do seem interesting. I'm wondering whether you are doing the Backbone JS data binding at template level, or at page level, and whether you do all the layout & ui stuff in pure CSS/JS or use a library for that (like JQuery UI).