Google has released the Google App Engine Launcher for Windows, a graphical
user interface for creating, running and deploying App Engine applications when
developing on Windows.
In a recent blog post, John
Grabowski, a software engineer at Google, said Google App Engine 1.2.5 SDK
for Python now includes the Google App Engine Launcher for Windows. Overall,
the goal of the launcher is to help make App Engine development quick and easy,
he said.
"About a year ago, a few of us recognized a need for a client tool to
help with App Engine development," Grabowski said. He said a group of
Google engineers had created a Mac version of the launcher in their "20
percent time"—the time that Google allows its engineers to work on
independent projects. "Of course, not all App Engine developers have Macs,
so more work was needed," Grabowski said, noting that a new group of
engineers set out to create the Windows launcher.
Added Grabowski:
"The Windows launcher is written in Python and uses wxPython for its
GUI. This means (with a little care) the launcher should work on Linux, and
we'd like Linux developers to have the option of using it. Although we ship a
binary of the Launcher for Windows (thanks to py2exe), shipping binaries for
Linux is a bit more challenging. Fortunately, Google has a well-traveled path
for solving this problem. For example, Google O3D provides binaries for
Windows/Mac; it also provides source code and instructions for building on
Linux. Thus inspired, we've open sourced the Windows launcher so that
developers can use it on other platforms."
In addition, Grabowski said Google has begun the process of open sourcing
the Mac version of the launcher.
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