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Well, I had thought that I was going to go with JSF due to popularity and such, but I have had a change of heart. Partly due to my own devices, but mainly cause I am not worried about what is popular, but what works best. Instead I am going to go with Wicket.

Wicket may not be the most popular framework, but it melds with the way I think, and since this is code that I am going to write and maintain, well I am going to go with something that I like. If I wanted to get it done super quickly I would go with PHP, but then when it comes to maintainability I would be lost. There are people out there that might disagree, but for me and my way of thinking Java works better. This is not to bash Microsoft’s .NET implementation, but I do not have those tools or services at my disposal.

So far, I have not even had the chance to get started on this fun little project. Hopefully here soon I will begin. The main problem is that I have to get other projects done prior to beginning work on this one. The funny thing is that none of those other projects are Java projects. Instead they are all in Perl, Bash, sh, or ksh. In addition to my regular work, I also have a fun little Power Point Presentation that I need to pull out of thin air. Hopefully soon something will get going.

I have a project at work that I have to implement. It is a web based site that I have to put together. Technically, I could use almost any technology that I want, provided that it will run on a Linux/Solaris platform. So I could write this app using PHP, perl, Python, or Java. For reasons that would take to long to explain at this moment, the option was chosen to go with Java.

Now like PHP there are about 9342 different frameworks that could be chosen for developing a web application in Java. Of all the technologies out there wee are mainly looking at JSF 2.0 using JFaces or some other tech to add AJAX support. From the looks of it there are both pluses and minuses to using JSF. One main factor in the decision was dealing with the popularity of JSF. Once the prototyping starts we will see.

The other framework that I was looking at was Wicket. While this is not as popular in the mainstream, it seems to embrace the way that I approach stuff more. I am sure that either will meet the needs of the project. However, I am working with another developer other than just myself so compromises had to be made. One of those compromises was JSF.

So as of yet I am not sure what I am getting into with JSF. About 4 years ago I messed with it when they were still working on the 2.0 spec. From what I remember it was not that bad to work with. At the time I was not working on an application as complex as the one that I have planned. This time the project is a bit more involved and will be used by more than just myself and a few other people.

So I am going to dive in head first, and see where I land. That is of course unless I review wicket, and decide that this is the better project. I must be insane.