Small Values of Cool: Google App Engine Roundup

April 09, 2008

Google App Engine Roundup

Loads of stuff in the blogsphere about the Google App Engine, unsurprisingly, some of it even worth reading.

Ruby fanboys throw their toys out of the pram. You will be assimilated. Mwahahahahaha!
Python is the new BASIC
Tomato tracking. "It’s going to be the world’s greatest web application." ;-)
Django on Google App Engine in 13 simple steps. Nice getting started tutorial.
Experimenting with Google App Engine. "The lack of SQL is actually refreshing." ... "I am impressed. The App Engine team has done a fantastic job, and I think they have already changed the way I do hobby projects."

So, it's looking good, though I'm still concerned about lock-in. It's not just the Datastore API which locks you in - that's probably fairly east to emulate - but also the Authentication and Authorization API, which looks much trickier.

Update: As Ade says, you certainly don't have to lock yourself in to GAE's Users API.

Posted to Website construction by Simon Brunning at April 09, 2008 01:00 PM

Comments

The authentication and authorisation API doesn't actually lock you in. It's an optional component. You don't have to use it. You're free to create your own Users schema and use that for authentication and authorisation.

In fact nowadays wouldn't a cool start-up insist that their users log in with OpenId instead?

Posted by: ade on April 9, 2008 02:06 PM

True - but it's a bit of an attractive nuisance.

OpenID is, as you say, the only Web 2.0 compliant approach. ;-)

Posted by: Simon on April 9, 2008 02:14 PM

Take a look at this:
http://www.joyeur.com/2008/04/09/joyents-garden-of-eden-for-python-web-applications

It might kill the buzz on AppEngine for now...

Posted by: Alcides Fonseca on April 9, 2008 03:55 PM

Give an unknown 3rd party all your customer data? You'd have to be mad...

Posted by: Simon on April 9, 2008 05:39 PM