JAWR is an open source tool written in Java that compresses and organizes an applications JavaScript/CSS source.  I found out about JAWR through the DWR mailing list.  It took me awhile to check it out, but I finally got around to it.  I have been working on a DWR application with an ExtJS front-end and I thought this would be a perfect place to try JAWR. 

First Impressions:

Setting up JAWR is simple!  The project is well documented and by following the quick start I was able to get up and running in no time.  JAWR does a lot more than JavaScript/CSS compression — here are some of the features:

• Allows you to componentize and organize your JavaScript sources.  Not only does this improve your code it also makes maintenance a lot easier.
• Debug mode allows you to debug your JS source with the modification of one property — Great for development.
• DWR 3.x plugin that compresses interface files generated by DWR as well as static DWR scripts.
• Gzips the response.

JAWR does a lot more.  All developers working on Java web apps should check it out — sooner rather than later!