the future of GAS?

[Carl Dewever]

Hello all,
I would like to have your feedback on the future of GAS.
I am a bit worried I must say, I invested a lot in scripts and libraries in GAS and for the last 6 months :

- I don't see many new features (only new feature for 2021 was on 15th of march)
- I see critical bugs to many of the community (connecting to jdbc mysql) that remain unsolved for more than a year
Therefore, before I invest further, I would appreciate your input.

How do you see GAS evolve, is there a roadmap, intelligence from within Google?

Thx

Carl

[Alex]

Hello

Many of us are living in this fog.

I don't think you can get a clear roadmap without an NDA.

As for me. I see some prospects for using Apps Script in the future. This is especially true for Workspace support and domain end user tools.

A low entry threshold for interested users is also a high benefit.

Keep in mind that the use of Apps Script resources is often a budgeting decision for the IT department.

[Joshua Snyder]

I might be wrong, but it seems that Alternative Runtimes might be a step in the direction for developers to host their own addons. Given all the issues that we've been experiencing with the V8 runtime, the opportunity to create additional functionality for Google users without having to rely on V8 seems attractive.

It'll be interesting to see how this develops, but given GAS is often used as a budget solution, perhaps Alternative Runtimes won't be that popular.

[Bruce Mcpherson]

I've been using Apps Script since it came out, over 10 years ago now, although I mainly do cloud stuff nowadays. There have been massive changes over that time, and clearly a big investment too. Lot's of things have come and gone, and it can be a pain, but that's normal over such a lifetime.

Things like clasp and alternate run times are aimed at the professional developer, but there have been many additions for the 'citizen developer' too, that many of us in this community haven't paid much attention to. 

The new IDE certainly still needs some attention, and the changeover to V8 was much needed, and although there are one or two challenges, everybody is now able to write much better code than they were previously. 

Apps Script went through a 'dark period' a few years back, when not much was happening, and what was happening didn't have much direction, but we've seen lots of encouraging activity over the past couple of years. Previously the changes were small - but now they are a little more revolutionary.

I think Apps Script in some form will be around for as long as Workspace is, and we have to accept it will evolve - Apps Script tends to be a stepping stone to other cloud capabilities - we're seeing more and more merging of cloud platform with Apps Script, which is great - it means that you don't have to worry so much about ending up in a VBA style corner as there are always many ways of doing things

The outstanding issues and bugs in the tracker are a concern, and we need to see more of these being cleared and closed or workarounds proposed. 

It's getting more and more complicated to share and publish stuff - There was an interesting and depressing series of posts on here just last week where a developer was at a loss to understand all the bewildering bureaucratic steps and jargon involved in publishing a simple add-on. I personally withdrew all my add-ons from the store a couple of years back because I couldn't be bothered with the hassle of it all and I'm sure many of you have done the same thing. If Apps Script diminishes it won't be because of the bugs and outstanding issues (every platform has them), or because of the capabilities and potential of the language or environment, it'll be because we've all got too tired with the processes and moved off to something less of a bother. 

So I'm optimistic about the future of Apps Script for as long as there are not too many obstacles thrown in the way of actually using what has become a pretty awesome platform.

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[Alan Wells]

I want Apps Script to be around for a long time.

I don't see any other alternative for myself, but I'm always hoping for new possibilities.

I've changed to using some of the Advanced Services rather than the built-in services.

If I needed to, I could transition from Advanced Services to either the REST API or an SDK for a specific language.

I've been trying to learn more about alternative possibilities through the Google Cloud Platform.

As others have mentioned, Apps Script is great for certain situations.

The solution that is best for you depends upon what your needs are.

Apps Script is the best, number one, awesome, and super duper greatest thing out there for low/no cost solutions, individuals, small organizations, 

low traffic, "citizen developers"; anything where the budget is a concern; you need low cost entry to services; you don't have an amount of traffic

that will crash your app; you don't need to "scale up"; and nobody is going to die if a bug makes your app unusable.

If you are a doctor's office who needs to know if your patient is dying, then don't use Apps Script.

It can even be good for professional developers who charge for add-ons.

But, there are limitations, which isn't surprising for a product that is technically unsupported, you can't buy support for, and is free.

There are probably reasons why Apps Script is technically not supported.

Apps Script is "sort of supported" by the Issue Tracker, but other than that, Apps Script is not really supported.

It's probably part of the business model and the legal environment.

As soon as a company requires payment for something, there is an expectation of guarantees and a certain level of quality.

You can't call someone at Google and tell them that the Apps Script code that your business relies on failed, 

and caused X amount of damages to your company, and you want your money back.

This isn't just an issue with Apps Script, if I had to buy insurance to protect me against damages to my users from a bug in my app,

then I'd need to charge everyone a million dollars a year (exaggerating a little) to cover possible liability.

That won't work when people expect something for nothing.

Even though I may complain bitterly about the failings of Apps Script at times,

I'm not sure where else I'd go.  I'm kinda stuck here.