Google App Engine goes Java

At a Google Technology User Group meet-up last night, I listened to a presentation by a Google App Engine Engineer, Jeff Scudder. This past Sunday night Google announced the support for Java on there App Engine service. Previously, the only language that was supported was Python. Also, there is now integration with Google Web Toolkit, and a Google Plugin for Eclipse.

I saw several presentations from those who have successfully used App Engine to launch their product/services. One application in particular I was really impressed with was by Dave Westwood, Founder & App Engine Developer at Buddypoke. With just two co-founders forming the team, within a few months, they have managed to capture a user base of several million. Think of BuddyPoke as something similar to a SuperPoke on FaceBook or a Smiley icon on AIM – only now add a lot more animation, artwork, and creativity and you got Buddypoke.
Google is changing the landscape of traditional web development. Google App Engine enables developers to build web applications on the same scalable systems that power Google applications. This service/product is exciting for any developer, but especially for start-ups or lone developers. If you are a lone developer or start-up with a small team and tight budget, it is very difficult to have all the expertise required for traditional web development (database management, system administration, servers, networking, scalability, etc…). The App Engine gives developers a kick-start and allows developers to concentrate on what they do best – develop. With App Engine, there are no servers to maintain: The developer can simply upload his/her application and it is ready to serve customers.
The App Engine makes it easy to develop applications that are easy to build, easy to maintain, and easy to scale as traffic and data storage needs grow. As an added perk – there is a free quota of 500 MB of storage and around 5M pageviews per month. After that you will have to pay for the resources required. The prices do seem fairly reasonable and can be seen here. Hopefully, if you’re getting that much traffic, you should be making enough money to support the required resources. What I like the most about the price model is that you can set a max limit on how much you are willing to pay if your site exceeds the resource limit for what you have bought – you set the limit for how much bandwidth you use tailored to your need and cost. For example, unlike some other web hosting companies, where the developer has to depend on himself for developing a solution to not exceed the bandwidth, Google takes care of this for you – you don’t ever have to worry about receiving a bill for $30,000.