Spark Framework + Kotlin, Opinions?
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I've been looking for something that isn't C# and isn't something like node / python and is strongly typed for larger projects I am going to start undertaking where using Flask + Python I don't think will cut it. I am not impressed with .NET Core so far and I am looking towards things that run on the JVM e.g. Java, Scala, Clojure / ClojureScript and Kotlin.
This looks like my cup of tea, and I built a simple HTML app in it and it seems okay. It looks pretty decent, but most frameworks look pretty nice until you find it has some major pain in the ass and you end up having to do something you don't like to bend to the framework.
Has anyone got any experience with Kotlin and/or used this Framework? I don't really want to get into something like SpringMVC because it looks like the large frameworks I tend to want to avoid. I prefer the micro-frameworks even if I am running on an environment like .NET or Python where "Batteries are included".
As mentioned I've been making do with Flask, PostGres, Angular 2-5 and deploying to Azure. I've been looking at digital ocean a lot especially after they cut their costs and all their VMs and containers are Linux or a flavour of Unix. So it would have to be something that runs on a *nix platform.
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I've been going through book "Modern Web Development with Kotlin" in my spare time. It uses framework called vert.x, which follows node in that it's based on a run loop.
So far I am pretty meh about the whole setup. As bad as other people are at dealing with node, I found it just as difficult getting jvm to work smoothly and figuring out its mile long stack traces.
Maybe you'll have better luck with spark. Although judging by their ignorant appeal to node devs, I doubt it.
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@cartman82 I worked with a lot of people that have bitched and moaned about oldschool .NET but it wasn't that bad IMO.
This is the problem, there is the JVM, node or python as the main alternatives and Kotlin is backed by JetBrains who seem to know what they are doing (with regard to their IDE products) so I was hopeful it would be fairly decent.
I dunno what to think tbh. I don't want to just say "fuck it" and end up using .NET or Python again when I have to fuck about with VMs on my mac when developing.
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@lucas1 if this is a learning project, then pick whatever you want to learn. If you are trying to reposition your career, then kotlin is a solid choice. JVM isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
I just don't think startups will suddenly drop node and start building everything on jvm based on the one wannabe node killer framework I've seen.
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@cartman82 This is for basically a full web app that is going to be like an IDE in Angular 2. I've done similar things before but not at this scale and while Flask is fine I really want something that has a more structured back-end.
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Basically I wrote a Game server web app that I never finished that could spin up docker containers of well known online games (Team Fortress, Counterstrike, Ark etc).
For whatever reason I didn't think it could be profitable and didn't finish it off as other bigger players had a much more mature platform than mine could ever be as I was a one man band.
I am going to try to do similar with say a web browser IDE and Docker deployment and debug or something similar.
I have something similar to XBMC for chromecasts and local video that looks like popcorn hour but it won't make me any money so it stays on the machine.
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@lucas1 said in Spark Framework + Kotlin, Opinions?:
@cartman82 This is for basically a full web app that is going to be like an IDE in Angular 2. I've done similar things before but not at this scale and while Flask is fine I really want something that has a more structured back-end.
If I had full choice of backend tech, I'd look into nest.
GitHub - nestjs/nest: A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, scalable, and enterprise-grade server-side applications with TypeScript/JavaScript 🚀
A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, scalable, and enterprise-grade server-side applications with TypeScript/JavaScript 🚀 - nestjs/nest
That's basically typescript on the server. Service layer is very closely inspired by angular 2+, so you'd likely have a lot of code and mind sharing.
Not sure I'd go with it (popularity, future proofing and all that), but I'd definitely look into it.
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@cartman82 I really like Angular 2 even though it has it fair share of problems. So I will check this out for sure. Thanks for the link.
Spark Framework: An expressive web framework for Kotlin and Java
