Removing the beta label
from a product is a great milestone, and we're glad to report that the latest one to make that
move is the Google Web Toolkit
(GWT).
With the release of Google Web Toolkit (GWT) version
1.4, we'd like to give a shout out to the open-source GWT contributors that put in
many hours of hard work to make GWT what it is today. We look forward to continuing to make GWT
better.
There's lots and lots of cool new stuff
in GWT 1.4, so it's hard to know where to start. How about application performance?! This
release includes several breakthroughs that make your compiled GWT code significantly smaller
and faster. Many users are reporting that after a simple recompile with 1.4, their
applications are up to 30% smaller and 20%-50% faster. And startup time in particular is now
highly optimized thanks to a new bootstrapping technique and the availability of image
bundles. To see the new hotness in action, try visiting the new-and-improved Mail sample a few
times. It's darn fast the very first time you visit it, but subsequent visits are insanely
fast. That's because, in addition to a fast initial startup, GWT code uses a clever caching
technique to prevent applications from making unnecessary HTTP requests. As Joel Webber (Tech
Lead of GWT Core Libraries) would say, "The fastest HTTP requests are those that do not, in
fact, occur."
