First of all, J2EE web container lengthy restart is a huge overhead alone, and in case of iterating over a feature, I can easily see a 30-50% difference.
But second of all, from the article: "You didn’t write html, css or javascript – you wrote css in java, you wrote html in java and you wrote javascript in java." Can you imagine developing that?
A Google search reveals: "the only thing worse than XML/XSLT is a proprietary form of XML/XSLT -- which of course is what PayPal was built on (C++ on the backend)." (from http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-you-shoul...)
I've been involved with writing Javascript in Java using GWT and it has poor developer productivity, especially as the project gets to anything beyond a medium size. At a medium size, compilation times get well above 5 minutes, and I can't even imagine a large app the size of a PayPal.
Imagine having to figure out the right XML/XSLT to transform into the right Javascript.
So it's not at all ridiculously implausible. At previous jobs, I worked with some really arcane stacks and you can't imagine the number of unnecessary layers that get in the way of good old GSD.
But second of all, from the article: "You didn’t write html, css or javascript – you wrote css in java, you wrote html in java and you wrote javascript in java." Can you imagine developing that?
A Google search reveals: "the only thing worse than XML/XSLT is a proprietary form of XML/XSLT -- which of course is what PayPal was built on (C++ on the backend)." (from http://looksgoodworkswell.blogspot.com/2012/09/why-you-shoul...)
I've been involved with writing Javascript in Java using GWT and it has poor developer productivity, especially as the project gets to anything beyond a medium size. At a medium size, compilation times get well above 5 minutes, and I can't even imagine a large app the size of a PayPal.
Imagine having to figure out the right XML/XSLT to transform into the right Javascript.
So it's not at all ridiculously implausible. At previous jobs, I worked with some really arcane stacks and you can't imagine the number of unnecessary layers that get in the way of good old GSD.