I worked on a fairly large GWT based project. Once your project crosses certain size, the entire compilation of Java to JS is royal pain and really affects your productivity.
I've worked on several large GWT projects, and if compiling to javascript is impacting your productivity, then your development process is not set up right.
In particular, compilation to javascript should not be inside of your basic edit->compile->test loop. Instead, you should be developing in DevMode (formerly known as "HostedMode") where the code runs in a JVM. The step of compiling to javascript should only happen once or twice as your code starts going towards a production environment.
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I worked on a fairly large GWT based project. Once your project crosses certain size, the entire compilation of Java to JS is royal pain and really affects your productivity.
I've worked on several large GWT projects, and if compiling to javascript is impacting your productivity, then your development process is not set up right.
In particular, compilation to javascript should not be inside of your basic edit->compile->test loop. Instead, you should be developing in DevMode (formerly known as "HostedMode") where the code runs in a JVM. The step of compiling to javascript should only happen once or twice as your code starts going towards a production environment.