SproutCore
SproutCore has piqued my interest in Ruby on Rails (SproutCore seems to be Mac only). Though both technologies have rather curious names, the end result they are attempting to achieve is very much the same: provide a framework for the development and deployment of Javascript code. In stark contrast to those web applications or plug-ins developed using proprietary environments, SproutCore is not reliant on any registered plug-ins or additional components to ensure the application is able to run. That means it may be deployed without fearing the installation of Flash, or having the case where Flash on a Windows platform behaves differently to Flash on Linux, for example. There’s also no specific server-side code required for the applications to execute, another win when considering rolling out an application to a large audience.
Built into the SproutCore framework is support for
- drag and drop
- various user interfaces
- keyboard shortcuts
- internal data models
The SproutCore developer tools are written in Ruby, but applications created by developers are completed using JavaScript.
The SproutCore website features some fantastic demo applications, one of which looks like it could be a part of Apple‘s MobileMe initiative. The demos and screencasts available on the Ruby site are equally impressive.
As always, trying to get to grips with a new technology or programming environment raises the usual question: what application to I try to create using this?
