Steve Gillmor and I met with Peter and Charles of SproutCore, the open source javascript framework for web application development. The platform has recently attracted a lot of attention as it was revealed that it powered the Apple Mobile Me web application demos from this years WWDC keynote.
SproutCore was developed during the development of a new version of their SproutIT product, a support desk email management product. Development commenced in early 2007, and was a response to the lack of a complete and full Javascript development platform. Most browser Javascript developers make use of multiple libraries to accomplish simple interface and computing tasks, while SproutCore aims to provide a complete platform more akin to Flash or Silverlight.
SproutCore has been designed and implemented so that the interfaces and libraries are similar to the Cocoa development platform used on Mac OS X. This was a decision made by the developers as they believed that not only is Cocoa a well-designed platform, but that in developing a web application platform in the same way, it would open the doors of web application development to many traditional Mac desktop app developers.