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Comment by unz | Hacker News Reader

Not to get argumentative, but I often come across people trashing app engine and I just don't get it. I think it's absolutely great and how software development should be done,

They should be teaching it to everyone and it should be the default - you start with app engine on any project and only choose something else if it can't be used.

And it's about as cheap as you could make something like that, If google itself finds it valuable, that's a argument in favor, not against, google having some of the best software developers around.

The only limitation currently is it doesn't have postgresql.

(I don't have anything to do with google. I just wish more people used it so more features could be added, and more open source software written for it, and I'd benefit from that).

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I also love GAE. ITS FREE, for sizeable usage (if you profile your DB). It does push and pull via channel API. SSH configuration is easy as it gets.

I have not really had a problem with speed. I have a game on it that does 400ms client -> sever -> client.(authentication done in parallel thread) You can put Django on it. ITS FREE!

I also love Google App Engine. I have a paid iOS app that uses GAE, and so far I get by with the free plan.

I think it's absolutely great and how software development should be done, They should be teaching it to everyone and it should be the default - you start with app engine on any project and only choose something else if it can't be used.

Curious about your argument here. Care to explain?

Let's say you're a college student or career changer who just learned python. You can write a script, upload it, and have the world use it for free.

You then learn sql and build complex apps.

Learn about bigtable and build a viral app that scales to anything.

Learn golang and make your python code more efficient.

And you can do this all free to start off with.

The alternative - learn linux, web servers, db admin, security. Or php/mysql and pay shady hosters $20 a month and buy domain name.

If you're experienced and know all about servers etc, you can now ditch all that knowledge and outsource it to someone else and focus on higher value things.

It also encourages you to write scalable applications - no in-request long operations, queues, eventual consistency, no filesystem access dependencies, planning for failure on every level etc. Using App Engine is a course on best practices in web development.

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