Should I Use Play framework 2.0 or go for play 1.x

Question

As the current stat of play 2.0 Is it better to wait for It to be more mature and use play 1.x or go for play 2.0 as I notice that play 2.0 nearly have no plugins that exist for 1.x

Detoxicate

Answer 1

I am a huge supporter of Play 2.0, mostly for its huge improvements in async support and core integration with Akka. The Scala API is much better in 2.0 than 1.2.4, and using SBT as the underlying build system was also a great decision.

If you're worried about plugins, don't be, because you can use practically anything that is compatible with SBT.

Play 2.0 is truly the natural evolution of the Play Framework, and investing into the 1.x platform at this point in the game will yield little return.

Denham

what you mean use practically anything that is compatible with SBT ?? – Detoxicate

I agree. Play 2.0 isn't quite as polished as 1.2.4 (who would expect that, a month after release?), but it does seem to be moving in the right direction. – Bigener

Since Play 2.0 is built on top of SBT, if someone has developed plugins or modules for SBT, they are very likely compatible with Play 2.0, or at least could be made compatible with little effort. – Denham

I would disagree, having java projects on both 1.2.x and 2.x I see a lot higher productivity with 1.2. 2.x has a lot of minor issues, less documentation, slower development environment, less plugins / features and so on. IMHO, if you are not using scala I would stick with 1.2.x for now. – Nero

Answer 2

If you simply want to get things done: go with playone.

If you want technologic wizardry: go with playtwo.

Barbie

Answer 3

Another blog post that compares 1.2.x to 2.0: http://blog.awfbeat.com/post/22314115684/impressions-of-play-framework-1-2-4-vs-2-0

Glossotomy

Answer 4

Shameless self promotion: My latest blog post talks about the changes from 1.x to 2.0.

It's true there aren't as many plug-ins, however there's a lot of stuff you can use without a Play-specific plug-in (e.g. Salat for MongoDB access). You can also use SBT plug-ins (something you couldn't do before).

Stacystadholder

Answer 5

To finish Sean's and Marius' answers: always go forward, with Play 1 there will be such day when community will decide to finish the line. Nobody knows when.

Riocard

I'd argue it's better to chose the tool that solves your problem. Play 1.x will stay for quite some time. – Stacystadholder

There's more things to consider than "solving the problem", like costs associated with maintenance into the future. I can write production level code in VB6 to "solve the problem", but I don't because it will cost many more man hours to maintain and support into the future. – Denham

@MariusSoutier: Yes you're right, working solution on first place! However Ahmed didn't precise his needs, I assumed that he want to know which line is better to start: answer can be only one: newest stable. Play 1.x has a lot of plugins and is mature enough, but Play 2.0 will not be mature if we will be waiting for 'that moment', while developing with 1.x. Things have to go forward as we do! – Riocard

I might forgot to say that this Is my first thing with play! – Detoxicate