Apache Wicket VS coffeescript

Sort of sounds like Apache Wicket (https://wicket.apache.org/). I used it for a few projects in the mid-late 2000s. I really liked it being server side and the concept of having object-oriented HTML (code paired with HTML snippets). I haven't had a need to use it since 2014, so haven't kept up with the project.

You can use Java for Backend and Frontend. A relative new kid on the block for Frontend is Qute. The general keyword you are searching for is Java Templating Engine. Specific examples would be Thymeleaf or FreeMarker. There are some framework, which offer a lot more than templating like Vaadin or Wicket. Some are just specifications like Jakarta Faces with some of their implementations MyFaces or Mojarra.

Perhaps, a good competitor for JSF is Apache Wicket.

I have used https://wicket.apache.org/ in the past and I think it matches your needs. It's a simple mvc that focuses on the actual java code writing and uses html only on the layout of your components in your page.

Is this the Wicket you're referring to? https://wicket.apache.org/

What's the best intro you know to how it's components work, and the benefits and tradeoffs over other approaches?

You should consider Apache Wicket. It is widely used for business apps.

I think Apache Wicket takes a similar approach for Java? https://wicket.apache.org/

I like the approach, and it's good to see more projects in this space.

I believe Wicket is somewhat similar (and still actively developed).

https://wicket.apache.org/

That said, there are ways to embrace the JS ecosystem without actually using JavaScript. Many popular languages have transpilers that will convert code written in that particular language into something that will run natively in a web browser (in other words, JavaScript). Even TypeScript is a language that gets transpiled into JavaScript, so it's not that outrageous of a concept, it just gets more difficult to do the further you get away from languages that don't already look like JavaScript.

As a front-end web developer, do you still use CoffeeScript or jQuery? Unlikely, as TypeScript, ES/TC39 and Babel (and the retirement of Internet Explorer thanks to @codepo8 and his EDGE team) have helped to transform JavaScript into some kind of a modern programming language.

CoffeeScript

On the other hand, companies choose React because that's where all the developers are. If you want to build something that can be maintained years from now, you better not choose the next hype train that goes straight to nowhere (remember CoffeeScript ?). You want something battle tested that has stood the test of time, where you won't have trouble finding developers to scale once you need to. And nobody ever got fired for choosing React.