Ok, so I'm finally getting started with the Google App Engine. With GAE you have two options for development, Python and Java. Python was the first language supported with Java added fairly recently. As a matter of fact, the GAE Java development tools are still in limited pre-release and it did not take me long to find out why.

GAE Java development tools are distributed as a plug-in to the Eclipse Development Platform. This is good because I use Eclipse for the small amount of Java work that I've done hence I already have it installed. I fire up Eclipse and load the plug-in, so far so good.

Next I installed the App Engine Java SDK, from within the Eclipse environment .  The SDK uses  Jetty as a servlet container.  I then follow the instructions to run the demo application and immediately get a message to update to a later version.  I proceed to do the update from within Eclipse and get an error saying the update is not compatible with other components.  Turns out I need to also do updates for the App Engine plugin and Eclipse itself.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I go through several cycles of updates and restarts of Eclipse, not a speedy thing and a reminder why I don't do my Windows apps in Java.  I get all my updates finished only to be rewarded with the demo app crashing in a pile of undecipherable Jetty and Java errors.  I think I best leave this environment to the Java experts and do a reset here.  I've got an app to write, I don't have time to debug the development environment.  

So, I guess it's time I learn a little Python.  Hopefully that environment is ready for prime time.  We'll see...