[squeak-dev] Re: [Newbies] Seaside vs. AIDA

Rob Rothwell r.j.rothwell at gmail.com
Thu Mar 20 22:06:23 UTC 2008


Leon,
I am both "new" to Smalltalk (been staring at an "empty" browser for a
couple of years!) and to Aida, but believed in the ability of Smalltalk to
be the right tool for the job to build some tools I need in a Healthcare
Environment.  I didn't know which to choose either!

As a new Smalltalker, I couldn't understand Seaside to the point where I
could figure out how things worked and how to do something with it WITHOUT
following a tutorial line by line--and yet it felt very "meta-capable."
 Just beyond me!  However, I have no doubt it can do great things.  It just
feels very theory-based for a newcomer.  I felt like I HAD to understand web
programming and HTML just to make it work.

Aida, I got.  Very down to earth.  Almost like "PRINT 'Hello'".  It seems to
abstract the web aspect a little better (for me).  While I still have to ask
for help, I'm usually "almost there" on my own.  It just seems to "make
sense" to me.  I think I have actually been able to turn a major Smalltalk
learning curve because of Aida.  I like the strong Model-View relationship
it forces you to use, and, indeed, supports what I am calling the
"Model-View-Design" triad whereby (if I actually knew more CSS) it is
relatively straightforward to restyle your site separate from your view and
from your model.  (I am SURE Seaside does this too...again...how?!).

I'm not trying to make a pitch either way, I just followed the "keep it
simple" motto and went with what I could understand, and yet I still worry
about my choice occasionally because of the very large Seaside
bandwagon--Will there be more examples available?  Will I be able to get
more help with Seaside?  All that stuff.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that even if the objective facts pointed
out that Seaside was better, smarter, faster...it still wouldn't work for ME
right now because I can't make it work.  Aida could be that way for you--I
would go with whichever fits YOU better (or your team), because they both
seem like mature products that will be around for a while.

Rob

On Thu, Mar 20, 2008 at 2:14 PM, Leon Smith <lsmith at leonsmith.com> wrote:

>
> I don't want to start a war here, but I have been through the first steps
> with both Seaside and AIDA/Web, enough to build the start of a web site.
> Before I make the commitment to one or the other, I wonder if anyone has
> done a recent, objective comparison between the two ?
>
> They both seem very capable. I felt like I turned out a better looking
> product a little easier with AIDA, but I sense that Seaside has a much
> larger following. I also wonder if continuations are that important to me.
> They also have a great many similarities. To the point where I think I
> could
> change AIDA to use a lot of Seaside if not the other way around.
>
> Any real experiences between the two will be most appreciated. This is a
> major decision point for me.
>
> Leon
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://www.nabble.com/Seaside-vs.-AIDA-tp16185376p16185376.html
> Sent from the Squeak - Beginners mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
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