Re: Struts Next Generation [was Modular ...]

[Ted Husted <hu...@apache.org>]

I don't know about anyone else around here, but my own goal is to find
the easiest and best way to write, maintain, and enhance business
applications. In today's enterprise environment, this means web
applications. If someone wants me to write Java applications, I write
Java applications. If someone wants me to use something else, I can use
something else. Means to an end.

IMHO, when we start focusing on this technology versus that
technology, we start to miss the point. Most of the patterns and
strategies we discuss here and on the user list transcend platform
implementation details.

A composable request processor is a composable request processor,
whether you implement it in Java, C#, or Python.

The Struts DTD is platform agnostic. It doesn't imply a specific
implementation. Right now, the action.type leads to a Action class. But
that's just an implementation detail. The soul of Struts is the
implementations that our DTD permit and encourage, not the
implementations themselves. The land is not the map.

Struts has become a proof of concept for two key ideas. First, that an
application could be driven from an XML site map. Second, that custom
tags are way better than scriplets. =:0)

We've proven (2) and (1) is becoming accepted. But, IMHO, the important
thing isn't whether we use this platform release or that platform
release, or even what platform we use. The important thing is where we
take the site map. The app is the map.

Sure, the ActionServlet is a front-controller. But, IMHO, the true
Controller, the C in MVC, is the graph of objects described by the
configuration document. Every plaform provides Models and Views, but
little is provided for the Controller. This is why Struts, and the many
projects like it, are so important. We are filling a vacuum.

I need to finish my study of JSF before proposing anything, but what I
would like to see for Struts "Next Generation" is a more expressive DTD,
especially one that could be implemented in different ways and on
different platforms. [At which point, I fully expect to branded a
heretic and driven off to SourceForge =;0)]

-Ted.




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