Google App Engine
Google’s brand new App Engine allows developers to write (in Python only, at the moment), store and run programs using Google’s application environment. This is no longer just parking documents in the clouds but sky writing — for those who can fly, at least. Speaking of which, you can see how it’s done by looking at a (slow-loading) video of the coding process under App Engine on YouTube. For a while, it’s a kick to see this kid just typing out code as fast as you or I might tap out a simple declarative sentence in English.
At the moment the demo app gallery isn’t functioning as well as it should: too many of the newly created apps are leading to a failure announcement of one sort or another — teething pains. But you can take a look at Mobwrite, which seems to be functioning.
Looks interesting. Too bad they’ve maxed out a 10,000 accounts and there’s no more room in the pool. I’m not going to start experimenting if I have no idea if and when I’ll get in.
Just a quick shout out. If you have a rails app you’re waiting to deploy (and obviously not allowed in the AppEngine yet), you may head over to morph eXchange. It’s surprisingly fuzz-free and no threat of lock in unlike some…
Best.
alain