Peter’s Gekko : Pragmatic OOP in JavaScript

Getting started is no big deal. At first sight you just start typing ahead pretending to write in C#. But there is no compiler or unit testing to validate your work; not until the code is interpreted at run time. As you can do horrible things in JavaScript it does take a lot of discipline to write good code. Also because the language itself is not as strict as C#. The following snippet of code will run.

function fCheckId CheckId()
{
if (text1.value != “”)
{
Id = text1.value;
}
else
{
id = -1;
}
return id;
}

This is an interesting article on JavaScript. It’s the first I’ve seen that attacks JavaScript from a programmer’s point of view. To be specific, from a C# programmer’s point of view. Peter goes step by step and compares JavaScript to C#. I speaks about Objects, Methods, Overloads, Properties, Static Members, and Inheritance.

I think that JavaScript has gotten a bit of a stigma attached to it because of its name. People tend to perceive it more as a scripting language. Although its primary purpose is scripting we should not underestimate JavaScript. Used properly, with the enlightenment that Peter has given, JavaScript can be very powerful.

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About.com is having a coding competition. Ajax is the topic. So all you Ajax guys out there, this is where you flex your muscles. Give it your best shot, rules at the bottom.

One thing I find funny is that they actually allow the use of third party scripts and libraries. This makes this challenge quite interesting in the sense that developers don’t need to code much from scratch. This allows their real coding skill and creativity to go towards making the application better on a whole.

Good luck guys.

Javascript Coding Challenge #1:A Useful Ajax Application

The Rules* The script must use Javascript to perform an Ajax style call to the server to retrieve data to update the current web page.
* The total of all Javascript and other client side files added to the page to perform the Ajax tasks must not exceed 10k in total size.
* The server side processing can be done using whatever programming language you prefer.
* You need to include a link to a page that contains a working version of the script.
* You agree to a viewable copy of both the Javascript and server side script being placed on this site.
* Any use of third party script libraries must comply with the licensing agreements applicable to those libraries.

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Well, it’s not really downtime, but I apologize none the less. It just hasn’t been the same since I got back from vacation. I’ve had virtually no time to myself to make any productive posts. There have been issues with school, with computer access, internet access, etc. As a result I decided instead of posting sporadically, I’ll simply wait until I can dedicate the amount of time that needed to this blog. That time is rapidly approaching though. In a month’s time, the posting will be back up to what you are used to.

A lot has happened in the world of Ajax since then. Not so much code-wise, but a lot of developers have sprung up out of nowhere with tons of Ajax applications showing off their skills. Some are good and some simply suck, but that’s the world of Ajax, where everybody who’s anybody is trying to get into the loop.

Once again, let me apologize to the few dedicated readers that I once had. I only hope that I haven’t scared our relationship for good and that I may entice you guys to put my feed back into your RSS reader.

See you guys in May.

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First off, let me apologize again for the lack of posts, again. Would you believe it? My internet connection was down for an entire week. I almost dug out my eyeballs. And it came up the day before I leave for the second part of my vacation.

The good news is that, this leg should only last a couple days. So I should be back up and posting by Tuesday. I get back on Sunday, but I’m going to need a few days to catch up on stuff. The way technology advances these days, missing a week seems like a year sometimes.

See you guys on Thursday.

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For those of you who made it to 2006, welcome. I just thought I should mention that up until mid-January, I'll officially be on vacation on the beautiful island of Dominica. As result of the excessive partying, beaches, and rivers (yes we really do have 365 rivers here) posts are going to be a bit slow. Just thought I should offer a bit of an explanation to my loyal readers. As soon as I'm back in TX, though, things will again be in full swing.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to ALL!!
[tags]vacation, travel, dominica[/tags]

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There is going to be an Ajax Seminar in New York in March 2006. Registration is now available at AjaxSeminar.com.

Prices are as follows:

• Super Early Bird Holiday Special (Before December 31, 2005) - $695
• Early Bird (Before January 31, 2006) - $995
• Discounted Price (Before February 28, 2006) - $1,195
• Seminar Price (After February 28, 2006 and if any seat available) - $1,295

Secure your seats now. Don't miss out on this opportunity.

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Ok, Firefox 1.5 was finally released today from Mozilla. Um, I must say that I'm not really impressed. Well, given the types of updates that were made, most people won't notice a huge difference. There is added support for all sorts of things like SVG, CSS 2, CSS 2, and CSS 3, however most current sites don't make heavy use of these so we won't be noticing anything for a while. The Forward and Back buttons have been tweaked for greater response. I personally have not noticed much of a difference. I just hope the thing doesn't crash like 1.07.

Tabs can not be repositioned by dragging and dropping, with no need for an external extension. Tons of security fixes have been added, which we won't notice. That is actually a good thing. I feel that they kind of messed up the options interface. It's all horizontal now. It's just going to take some time to get used to. There is an auto update feature for updating extensions, themes, and the browser. What's deferent you ask? It can be set to fully automatic: just download the updates and install whenever available. And the browser update is an actual update as apposed to the "Download the entire Firefox Installation and reinstall".

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The Break Down

All three of these companies have decided to give webmail a "fresh spin":

Microsoft and Yahoo are poised to make Web-based e-mail more powerful than ever with updates that bring a desktop-style interface to their respective Web mail offerings.

We tested betas (currently invitation-only) of Windows Live Mail and Yahoo Mail, and also looked at an open-source newcomer called Zimbra.
All three apps use an increasingly popular programming technique called Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) to improve on standard Web mail and even Google's Gmail.

Yahoo is adding some keyboard functionality. Control and Shift keys to select multiple messages; PgUP and PgDN to scroll through messages; and they do have an interesting feature where multiple messages can be opened in the same window.

Microsoft is basically making Windows Live Mail into a sort of Hotmail on steroids. It's basically going to be Outlook from the browser.

Zimbra, although a little rougher (give them a break, they're new), does look more promising in my view. Check out their online demo here. They're not into the personal email accounts thing. Their suite is aimed at cooperations and businesses and goes way beyond just email. They can also integrate a company's own database into this making ordering, for example, painless.

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