It’s been about 6 months now since our development team picked up the Wicket framework. So far, so good! It’s been enjoyable to code using this framework, and it has certainly been a productivity booster.  It’s really helped to streamline our processes for our applications and helps to keep our look and feel consistent.

Some of the things I love about wicket are as follows:

• Component Based
• Separation of code and markup
• Minimal XML, Java handles the configuration
• The community is active and helpful
• The core framework focuses on needs, and extensions fulfill specific cases

Some of the things I dislike:

• There are many extensions, too many it seems.  It would be great if wicket could filter this down, possibly to a more focused extensions package.
• The separation of code and markup takes some getting used to in terms of using dynamic javascript (I am used to managing these within a page, or with includes [ie: php and ruby])

Overall, if you are a Java shop looking to build web applications at a faster pace, keeping things organized and having fun writing Java, this is an excellent framework to adopt.

More to come on this framework.

I have been using backpack for about 6 months now, and I love it. I typically write quick notes throughout my day, whether at work or at home, and track daily, weekly and monthly to-do lists. Since I am a web app developer, I often have a browser open, and one of those tabs is usually set aside for backpack. It helps me stay organized with what I have to do between home and work, and keeps me on track with my day-to-day work tasks. It also helps that the interface is intuitive and to the point. I recommend you take it for a test drive today.