“Ryan clearly understands the GWT value proposition and how GWT integrates into a diverse web technology stack–and not just in a theoretical way. With the popularity of gpokr.com and kdice.com, Ryan can speak with the authority of concrete success.”

–Bruce Johnson, creator of Google Web Toolkit

“This book distinguishes itself from other books on GWT in that it walks through the entire process of building several nontrivial GWT applications, not the toy applications that most books present.”

–R. Mark Volkmann, Object Computing, Inc. 

“Google? Web Toolkit Applications is an excellent resource for any GWT developer. Solutions to challenges commonly encountered in GWT are presented through the design and development of actual applications. The applications developed throughout the text demonstrate best practices from simple UI design all the way to custom code generation, and are presented with little pretext about the amount of Java knowledge a given developer may have. Advanced concepts are not withheld but are presented in a way that will be understood by both novice and seasoned developers alike. Good application development practices and proper Model View Controller design is reinforced throughout the book, nearly guaranteeing that the reader will come away a better programmer.

–Jason Essington, Senior Web/Java Engineer, Green River Computing
“Dewsbury’s Google? Web Toolkit Applications is a book for both experts and beginner programmers who want to discover this open source Java software development framework, as well as write Ajax applications. A very detailed book!”

–Massimo Nardone, Advisory IT Security Architect

Accelerate and Simplify Ajax Development with Google Web Toolkit Ck,

Get the edge you need to deliver exceptional user experiences with Google? Web Toolkit Applications, a guidebook that provides web developers with core information and instructions for creating rich web applications. Whether you’re a developer who needs to build a high-performance front end for Java, PHP, or Ruby applications, or to integrate with external web services, this resource from expert Google Web Toolkit (GWT) developer Ryan Dewsbury delivers the in-depth coverage you’ll need.

In this valuable book, insider Ryan Dewsbury provides instructions for using the robust tool set and gets you on your way to creating first-class web applications by providing a comprehensive overview of GWT technology. In addition, he shares his “in-the-trenches” insights on 

Building elegant and responsive user interfaces with Cascading Style Sheets and GWT’s Widgets and Panels

Creating seamless user experiences through asynchronous communication with HTTP, REST, JSON/JSONP, and RPC Interoperating with web standards–such as XML, RSS, and Atom–and web services–such as Google Maps, Amazon Books, Yahoo! Search, Flickr, and Blogger

Overcoming browser security restrictions, such as HTTP’s two-connection limit and the Same-Origin policy

Accelerating development, using software engineering, code generation, internationalization, application patterns, and Java tools

Deploying for optimal performance with resource compression and caching

Building five non-trivial applications: a gadget application with a rich drag-and-drop interface, a multi-search application that makes requests to many search engines, a blog editor application for managing entries across multiple blogs, a web-based instant messenger, and a database manager for a traditional web page

This practical guide to GWT introduces you to the technology; provides techniques, tips, and examples; and puts you on the road to delivering top-notch user experiences for your web applications.

Summary: Detailed and practical book on Google Web Toolkit
Rating: 5

This book is about writing Ajax applications that create richer user experiences than you usually find in a tutorial book on application programming. It uses web technologies and Java development tools and shows how the Google Web Toolkit (GWT) bridges the two in such applications. Thus the book's primary focus is on the Google Web Toolkit itself along with its library and tools. Secondarily, the book covers software development techniques using Java and how to apply Ajax application development with the GWT. Finally, the book looks at web technologies including web standards and Ajax libraries and APIs. The GWT has many abilities that aren't clear to the novice, and this book takes an example-based approach and attempts to demonstrate many of the capabilities of the GWT to you.

The book's author assumes you already know how to program in Java, and thus does not spend time tutoring you in this. He does not assume you know anything about the GWT. This book is hands on and includes most but not all of the code. For the entirety of the code you need to go to the book's website. The following is the table of contents:

Part I:Understanding the GWT
1. First Steps with the Google Web Toolkit - intro plus a tutorial on creating an Ajax game application.
2. User Interface Library Overview - Consists of notes and examples about the use of each widget in the GWT user interface library.
3. Server Integration Techniques - self-explanatory
4. Software Engineering for Ajax - Java tools for software development and how they are used with the GWT.
5. Using the Toolkit Effectively - advanced techniques for software development using the GWT. This includes CSS, code generation, internationalization, and performance.

Part II: Rich Web Applications by Example
6. Gadget Desktop Application - first of the example-based chapters shows how to write a gadget application with a drag-and-drop interface and persistence with cookies and Gears. Using Javascript with the GWT is covered here.
7. Multi-search application - how to write a search application with an interface to many search engines. You see how to communicate with Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Flickr.

8. Blog Editor Application - how to write an application that manages entries that are occuring across many blogs. This application integrates with the Blogger REST API using an HTTP proxy.
9. Instant Messenger Application - shows how to create a web page instant messenger based on GWT-RPC. It shows how to use an event-based protocol along with optimizing with Comet on Tomcat and Continuations on Jetty
10.Database Editor Application - How to create a database manager for a basic web page. The application includes facets such as how to read complex data structures from the server using Data Access Objects, code generation for XML and JSON, and integrating with PHP, Ruby on Rails, and finally Java with Hibernate.