Frameworks comparation: Lift, Play and Wicket

Question

What are the advantages and dis­advantages of frameworks Lift, Play and Wicket? What characteristics are best or only supported by each?

Thanks

Melamie

Do you want a framework with scala-support? – Perspire

@Perspire Yes Another feature, besides those cited in the question, is enabling a good separation of the layers of the system. The framework that I liked was the Wicket. If necessary I will make a custom bracket to use it with Scala. – Melamie

Answer 1

Play:

Lightweight Java-based framework, with Scala support available as an extra.

very good for rapid prototyping, fast-feedback-loop kind of work. Embeds the compiler, so you just edit source code in place and pages get immediately updated. Learning curve is shallow.

Wicket:

Stateful Java-based framework, with Scala support available as an extra.

Shallower learning curve into Scala, especially if you already have wicket experience. Good separation of concerns, POJO-based model. Arguably one of the best Java web frameworks currently available.

Lift:

Stateful native-Scala framework. Deep Scala integration, so no need to generate bean setter/getter methods or worry about interop between Java/Scala collections. Fully embraces functional-programming concepts, such as immutability and closures.

Also the steepest learning-curve of the three. One common piece of advice is therefore to learn the Scala language before getting started with Lift, especially if you come from a Java background.

Others:

There are also other Scala-based frameworks available (such as Scalatra and Pinky) for web development, though not as well-known as Lift. It wouldn't hurt to check these out as well!

For more information, see this question: What Scala web-frameworks are available?

Trope

Clear as crystal, as always when coming from you @Kevin – Mazard

Hey, thanks! But you do know this'll probably send me on some sort of ego-trip right? – Trope

@eelco: You can tell which one I haven't used then? I've updated the answer – Trope

I'm guessing that the description for Play was for Play 1.x, since Play 2 (which came along well after this answer was written) really embraces Scala wholeheartedly (while still supporting Java). – Saskatchewan

Answer 2

There are many threads that compares these web frameworks for Scala. See

Which is better framework Java/GWT or Scala/Lift?

Lift / Wicket here: Which is better framework Java/GWT or Scala/Lift?

For my next project, a web-app, should use scala+wicket or scala+lift?

How do the Scala based frameworks stack up for a complete Scala newbie - Lift, Play, Circumflex, etc

Mazard

You do not have to follow these links. Actually, Kevins answer saiz it all. – Mazard

These links were very helpful, especially the first. Thanks – Melamie

No, please, do follow the links! My summary was very broad - there's a lot more to learn in the fine print. I certainly upvoted this answer. – Trope

Answer 3

Talking about the advantages of Lift, one should mention Seven Things where Lift really excels. In short:

• Lazy Loading
• Parallel page rendering
• Comet and Ajax
• Wiring -- declare interdepencies between page elements
• Designer friendly templates
• Wizard -- multipage input screens with full back-button support
• Security

Just visit the linked page for more details - these features really make Lift unique among competitors.

Delia

Answer 4

See also:

https://vaadin.com/ - Stateful Java-based framework for desktop-like applications (GWT based, but server-side, no javascript, no html).

http://click.apache.org/ - stateless Java-based framework for light web applications.

Both have excellent documentation and are easy to learn.

Brockie