Javascript

You're getting pitched every day from your legacy enterprise software and hardware vendors about "cloud." They're doing an amazing job of convincing your CIO and CTO about what cloud is and how you should use it. The reality is...
You're getting pitched every day from your legacy enterprise software and hardware vendors about "cloud." They're doing an amazing job of convincing your CIO and CTO about what cloud is and how you should use it. The reality is they're defending their shrinking market share and keeping you on the legacy treadmill for as long as they can by selling you solutions that aren't "cloud." In her session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Niki Acosta, Cloud Evangelista for Rackspace, will talk through the five dirty little secrets your legacy IT vendors won't tell you about cloud. Attendees will leave with an understanding of how you should really be thinking about building enterprise apps for the cloud while embracing the fundamental shift away from legacy IT.read more
about 2 hours ago
At pennies per virtual machine-hour, the economics of cloud computing are both compelling and daunting to replicate. Whether you are building your own cloud infrastructure, building a public cloud or choosing a cloud service, there are k...
At pennies per virtual machine-hour, the economics of cloud computing are both compelling and daunting to replicate. Whether you are building your own cloud infrastructure, building a public cloud or choosing a cloud service, there are key strategy and technology decisions that make the difference between success and failure. In his General Session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Jason Waxman, VP in the Intel Architecture Group and general manager of the Cloud Platforms Group within Intel's Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, will share industry best practices for deploying cloud infrastructure that maximize the benefits of cloud economics, agility and interoperability. Learn how Intel is working with industry leaders to deliver open, secure and efficient cloud computing based on optimized compute, networking, storage and software technology and what are key tools and resources to help you achieve your cloud computing goals.read more
about 2 hours ago
Firebug 1.11.4 has been released (archive). Firebug 1.11.4 fixes 4 issues Firebug 1.11.4 is compatible with Firefox 17-22 All users subscribed to AMO beta channel should be already updated to version 1.11.4 beta 1 which is exactly the ...
Firebug 1.11.4 has been released (archive). Firebug 1.11.4 fixes 4 issues Firebug 1.11.4 is compatible with Firefox 17-22 All users subscribed to AMO beta channel should be already updated to version 1.11.4 beta 1 which is exactly the same as 1.11.4. This version is a follow-up for 1.11.3 and fixes some reported problems. Specifically XHR Spy works again for Firefox 17 and CSS pseudo-element rules are now properly displayed in the Style panel. Please post feedback in the newsgroup, thanks! Jan ‘Honza’ Odvarko
about 12 hours ago
Android-Like UI Development Framework – FriesFries is an awesome mobile UI development framework for Android apps that lets you create sexy Android-like UI using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.The framework has all the main components l...
Android-Like UI Development Framework – FriesFries is an awesome mobile UI development framework for Android apps that lets you create sexy Android-like UI using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.The framework has all the main components like forms, buttons, tabs, spinners, action bars and lists.Fries is also optimized to be used as UI framework in an Android PhoneGap app and can be easily converted to a native application.Demo: http://jaunesarmiento.me/fries/ Download: https://github.com/jaunesarmiento/fries/ License : MIT LicenseBlogupstairs - Web Developer Resources & Tools
about 15 hours ago
I recently wrote an article for Nettuts+, “Cargo-Culting in JavaScript“. In it I cover the concept of cargo-cult programming and specific techniques that seem to be cargo-culted off quite frequently in JavaScript. I found th...
I recently wrote an article for Nettuts+, “Cargo-Culting in JavaScript“. In it I cover the concept of cargo-cult programming and specific techniques that seem to be cargo-culted off quite frequently in JavaScript. I found that writing the article took a great deal longer than I’d anticipated. Writing an opinionated piece is always a little risky and making the prose itself measured and reasonable is hard work. Rereading it I realise it seems a little preachy. I think that may just be the nature of the principle behind the article though. What’s quite funny is that regular tutorials and code samples inject the same amount of opinion and subjective preference but it is under the guise of code and so you don’t feel manipulated or provoked. Instead you feel appreciative and subdued. This is in contrast to prose… it only takes a bit and you’ll feel preached-to. Code, on the other hand, seems factual and robotic. You can hardly debate a piece of code (if you try you’re either a “nitpicker” or “troll”). But shared code is far more pervasive a manipulator than we’d like to think. If it wasn’t then cargo-cult-programming wouldn’t exist. Techniques, both good and bad, spread like wildfire.
about 17 hours ago
Modulus.io is a new hosting platform dedicated to Node. Why “platform”? Well, Modulus provides a complete stack for web application development: MongoDB is used for the database and file storage, and WebSockets are supported ...
Modulus.io is a new hosting platform dedicated to Node. Why “platform”? Well, Modulus provides a complete stack for web application development: MongoDB is used for the database and file storage, and WebSockets are supported out of the box. Applications running on the Modulus stack get metrics – requests are logged and analysed in real-time. Horizontal scaling is supported by running multiple instances of your application. Pricing is determined by the number of instances (servos) that you run, and storage used. The Modulus pricing page has some sliders, allowing you to see how much it’ll cost to run your application per-month. I asked Modulus about using different versions of Node Node, as Heroku supports 0.4 to 0.10. However, at the time of writing only Node 0.8.15 is supported. Ghuffran Ali from Modulus said that they’re working on supporting multiple Node versions as soon as Monday (27th May), so keep an eye on the Modulus blog for details on that. It’s easy to get started with Modulus – there’s a sample project, plus you can sign in with GitHub so it doesn’t take too much effort to get a basic application running. They’re also offering $15 free credit, so you could run something more substantial there to see how everything works. Modulus uses a web-based interface for managing projects that allows various settings to be changed, like environmental variables, and a global SSL redirect. There’s also a command-line client – if you sign in with GitHub make sure you use modulus login with -g so you can sign in with your GitHub account. On a related note, IrisCouch has joined Nodejitsu. That means CouchDB and Redis are now both supported by Nodejitsu: This means that our users will be able to deploy their applications and databases from the same set of tools all backed by node.js. If you’re an existing IrisCouch user you will be notified and given ample time to migrate your IrisCouch account into a Nodejitsu account. It’s impressive to see so much innovation in the Node hosting/PaaS space!
about 21 hours ago
Cargo-cult programming is what a programmer does when he or she doesn't know a particular language or paradigm well enough, and so ends up writing redundant and possibly harmful code. It rears its head quite often in the land of Java...
Cargo-cult programming is what a programmer does when he or she doesn't know a particular language or paradigm well enough, and so ends up writing redundant and possibly harmful code. It rears its head quite often in the land of JavaScript. In this article, I explore the concept of cargo-cult programming and places to watch out for it in JavaScript.Cargo-culting is sometimes defined as "the extreme adherence to the form instead of content". The form, in programming, being the syntax, paradigms, styles and patterns that we employ. The content being the abstract thing that you are seeking to represent through your code — the very substance of your program. A person with lacking understanding in an area is likely to copy the form of others without truly understanding, and thus their content — their program — can suffer.Cargo-culting is curiously common in JavaScript, probably because of the general low barrier to entry in the front-end development world. You can whip up an HTML page with a bit of JavaScript in seconds. As a result, there are many people who become sufficiently proficient in these technologies to feel comfortable creating and imposing rules on themselves and others. Eventually, other newcomers copy these rules. Dogmatic rules surface and spread, until they are considered the norm:Always use strict equality operatorsNever use evalAlways use a single var declaration per scopeAlways use an IIFE – it “protects” youA rule continues to spread until a programmer is only using a given technique because of its popularity, instead of considering each specific use-case independently.JavaScript Abuzz with Semi-colonsIf you've had the opportunity to witness the witty banter and rhetoric of the software developer over the years, you will have spotted a tendency to discuss seemingly tiny things at great lengths. Things like the semi-colon, the comma, white-space or the curly brace.Syntax like semi-colons or white-space may seem to purely be elements of form, not of content. But many of these subtle syntax rules can have significant effects in JavaScript. If you don't understand the 'form' then you cannot begin to understand the 'content'.So in this article, we will identify what areas of form in JavaScript are frequently cargo-culted off of — that is, copied without understanding. How JavaScript can seem…, an image from Angus Croll’s "The Politics Of JavaScript" presentation UndefinedAngus Croll, in a recent presentation, titled "The Politics Of JavaScript", highlighted one of the most common pieces of JS dogma that people cargo-cult off of:if (typeof myObject.foo === 'undefined') {...} Most of the time, doing such a long-winded check for undefined is pointless. The technique became common because people were copying other people, not because of it's actual value.Of course, there are times when: typeof x === 'undefined' … is preferable to:x === undefined But, equally, there are times when the latter is preferred. A quick overview of the options: // Determine if `x` is undefined: x === undefined typeof x == 'undefined' typeof x === 'undefined' x === void 0 // Determine if `x` is undefined OR null: x == null x == undefined People started using the typeof approach because they were protecting themselves against:A potentially undeclared variable (non-typeof approaches would throw TypeErrors)Someone overwrote undefined globally or in a parent scope. Some environments allow you to overwrite undefined to something like true. You have to ask yourself: “Is it likely that someone overwrote undefined, and should my script have to pander to such silliness?“But most of the time they're protecting themselves from having to worry. It's a catch-all avoidance of having to know the details. Knowing the details can help you though. Every character of your code should exist with a purpose in mind.The only time that you sh
1 day ago
In his session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Dave Eichorn, Global Data Center Practice Head at Zensar, will share a case study describing how a utility services company handled the migration of its Microsoft platform to the cloud...
In his session at the 12th International Cloud Expo, Dave Eichorn, Global Data Center Practice Head at Zensar, will share a case study describing how a utility services company handled the migration of its Microsoft platform to the cloud. Challenged with the time-consuming task of opening operations out of temporary offices, this company struggled with the need to simultaneously access data that was accumulated from a vast amount of data-intensive jobs. Zensar migrated the company’s application of force.com to the cloud, eliminating the need for front-end infrastructure and allowing access to the cloud. He will describe best practices for cloud migration and explain the benefits of mobility, cost savings and faster time-to-market.read more
1 day ago
Complexity is the new reality of web and mobile applications with almost no new release going out without the addition of services and applications spread across many different companies. But the reality of this new interrelationship is ...
Complexity is the new reality of web and mobile applications with almost no new release going out without the addition of services and applications spread across many different companies. But the reality of this new interrelationship is still the same: If a third-party Internet outage or issue occurs, your brand is the one that is affected. With up to 1,500 distinct third-party services available to choose from around the world, it is sometimes difficult to even identify what a service does when it appears in your applications. This forces your team to not only be fully aware of the components you control, but also to be able to follow the trail of services that extends far outside the code and systems your company manages when issues appear.read more
1 day ago
There are a handful of outstanding front-end development organizations and Sencha is right at the top of them.  Sencha has done some incredible work, all the way back to the ExtJS days to the modern day Sencha Touch library.  Sencha cont...
There are a handful of outstanding front-end development organizations and Sencha is right at the top of them.  Sencha has done some incredible work, all the way back to the ExtJS days to the modern day Sencha Touch library.  Sencha continues to push the limits of front-end web development and performance, as evidenced by last year’s revelation FastBook.  Mark Zuckerburg claimed HTML5 wasn’t ready so Sencha shocked the industry with a world class, performant Facebook app.  In short:  Sencha doesn’t mess around. SenchaCon 2013 is coming up in Orlando, Florida on July 16-19 at Walt Disney World Swan & Dolphin.  This epic conference is a front-end developer’s dream, covering HTML5, mobile, JavaScript, performant practices, and more.  Sencha promises: Get the inside track on Sencha’s New technologies Spend 3 days in 60+ sessions on Sencha tools & frameworks Interact with HTML5 experts, Sencha engineers & fellow developers Show off your coding skills during our full-day hackathon Network and enjoy yourself with your peers at SenchaCon’s kickass parties SenchaCon is a premier front-end event, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from a Sencha.  If you love front-end development and can make it to Sencha Con, be sure to get there! Learn About SenchaCon! Read the full article at: SenchaCon 2013: Live Like a Rock Star
2 days ago