Google Closure Tools

Google has just released three new tools for all you javascript junkies out there:

http://googlecode.blogspot.com/2009/11/introducing-closure-tools.html

The Closure Compiler seems an immidiate win to just about any javascript based RIA. Speed improvements, size reductions and type checking of your code - things we all wish we would have had many years ago.

The Closure Library is another go at a javascript framework. It does much of what fx. jQuery does and then some. I have used jQuery so much lately, so changing to a new framework is probably only something I would try if a really big project came along.

The Closure Templates don't immidiately strike me as super useful. It's a sort of language that automatically generates JavaScript (for the client) or Java (for the server) that outputs html. Almost looks like the kind of code we used to make in ASP or PHP in the old days, you now a spaghetti incident of html and code, only done in javascript and with an additional template layer. Not the way I would choose, but then again I never did a "Gmail" project.