2ality - technology, life

The increasing pervasiveness of JavaScript – a few historic milestones

2012-01-27T11:14:00.000+01:00

JavaScript is used in more and more places. It started out as a scripting language for web content and has migrated to many areas. This post presents the historic milestones of this process. Note: The milestones are about things that changed the public perception of what JavaScript could be used for. Some of these milestones would not have been possible without prior work by others. For example: Mozilla’s contributions in advancing the state of JavaScript cannot be overestimated. The following are the milestones, in chronological order: Read more »

Remedies for SOPA causes (a greedy industry in decline, corrupt politics)

2012-01-23T08:50:00.000+01:00

This post examines two reasons for why a bill such as SOPA [1] could come into being: First, Hollywood is a greedy industry in decline. Second, it wields significant power via corrupt politics. Read more »

JavaScript myth: JavaScript needs a standard bytecode

2012-01-22T16:00:00.000+01:00

The idea is obvious: Why not standardize the bytecode of the virtual machines (VMs) that JavaScript runs on? That would mean that JavaScript programs could be delivered as bytecode and thus would be smaller and start more quickly (after having been loaded). Additionally, it would seem to be easier to port other languages to web browsers, by targeting that bytecode. This post makes its case in two steps: First, it shows that bytecode has several disadvantages. Second, it explains that source code is not as bad a solution as it seems. Read more »

Apple and the online education revolution

2012-01-20T16:10:00.004+01:00

Yesterday’s Apple event on education reflects current trends in computerized learning. So what has Apple introduced? Read more »

What is JavaScript’s typeof operator used for?

2012-01-20T05:24:00.002+01:00

JavaScript’s typeof is a complicated beast – it can be used for many things, but also has many quirks. This post lists its use cases, points out problems and presents alternatives. Read more »

The “no asshole comments” option

2012-01-19T08:50:00.000+01:00

This post contains a few thoughts on what can be done about negative comments. Read more »

VLC keyboard shortcuts

2012-01-18T10:02:00.000+01:00

Tip: “Preferences... → Hotkeys” lists VLC shortcuts. Two handy ones: Read more »

The first ECMAScript.next features in Firefox and Chrome

2012-01-17T23:05:00.003+01:00

Update 2012-01-23: “ECMAScript 6 support in Mozilla” on the Mozilla Development Network.

The next version of ECMAScript (code-named ECMAScript.next [1]) will be standardized by 2013. This post enumerates the first features that are currently being tested in Firefox and Chrome.

Samsung to merge its Bada and Tizen mobile operating systems – Intel still on board?

2012-01-14T21:15:00.000+01:00

Quoting “Samsung Merging Its Bada OS With Intel-Backed Tizen Project” by Elizabeth Woyke for Forbes [via Ariya Hidayat]: Read more »

Streaming a DVD to another Mac via VLC

2012-01-14T20:40:00.000+01:00

This post shows you how to stream a DVD from a sending Mac (e.g. an iMac) to a receiving Mac (e.g. a MacBook Air) using the free VLC media player. The explanation is also valid for other systems running VLC, but you will have to substitute a VNC server and client for the Mac’s built-in Screen Sharing (which is, in fact, based on VNC). Read more »

Automatically numbering headings via CSS

2012-01-12T21:07:00.003+01:00

This post shows you how to number HTML headings with CSS. That is, given the following HTML.

    <h1>My Article</h1>
    <h2>Introduction</h2>
    <h3>Rationale</h3>
    <h2>Background</h2>

With the proper CSS, the above will be displayed as

My Article
1. Introduction
1.1. Rationale
2. Background

GitHub: serve files to the web, with a single branch

2012-01-10T13:48:00.001+01:00

GitHub has a nifty feature called GitHub Pages that allows you to serve files in your repository to the web. Those files have to reside in the branch gh-pages, which is different from the usual master branch. To avoid the slightly cumbersome maintenance of two branches, this post shows you how to only work with gh-pages. Read more »

JavaScript inheritance by example

2012-01-08T19:05:00.001+01:00

This blog post illustrates several JavaScript inheritance topics via an example: We start with naive implementations of a constructor Point and its sub-constructor ColorPoint and then improve them, step by step. This post should be self-explanatory, but where it isn’t, you can consult the more thorough introduction to JavaScript inheritance at [1]. Read more »

Crockford’s JSDev: switching off privacy for testing

2012-01-05T08:28:00.000+01:00

Today, Douglas Crockford introduced a new project: JSDev. It solves a challenge with privacy: On one hand, you don’t want the outside world to have access to private functionality. On the other hand, you want to test it, via external unit tests. Read more »

The pitfalls of using objects as maps in JavaScript

2012-01-03T11:50:00.000+01:00

JavaScript is Spartan when it comes to built-in data structures. One commonly uses objects as maps from strings to values. This post points out three pitfalls when doing so. Read more »

Dion Almaer on the history of webOS

2012-01-03T09:44:00.000+01:00

Dion Almaer was head of webOS developer relations at Palm. He gives a nice account of the history of webOS. Quote: Read more »

The multiple roles of JavaScript objects and arrays

2012-01-01T13:39:00.000+01:00

Both objects and arrays play multiple roles in JavaScript. This blog post explains what those roles are. Read more »

Why do some JavaScript methods have such long names?

2011-12-28T16:14:00.001+01:00

Allen Wirfs-Brock (the project editor of the ECMAScript 5 specification) recently mentioned the thought process behind method names such as Object.getOwnPropertyNames(): Read more »

es6-shim – ECMAScript 6 functionality on ECMAScript 5

2011-12-27T15:39:00.002+01:00

Paul Miller’s es6-shim gives you functionality that will be in ECMAScript 6 (code-named ECMAScript.next), on ECMAScript 5 engines. It was initially based on a project of mine, but adds much new functionality, Node.js compatibility, and (not least) tests. Read more »

Subtyping JavaScript built-ins

2011-12-26T19:10:00.002+01:00

JavaScript’s built-ins are difficult to subtype. This post explains why and presents solutions. Read more »

Reinventing the tire – without air

2011-12-23T15:09:00.000+01:00

It’s a dream come true: drive a vehicle without worrying about a flat tire or insufficient air pressure. Bridgestone has presented a concept for “airless tires”. Read more »

Hello iTunes Account Switcher (goodbye TuneSwitch)

2011-12-23T14:07:00.001+01:00

iTunes Account Switcher is a Mac OS X utility for quickly switching between iTunes accounts.

JS Central – a website with JavaScript news and links

2011-12-23T07:26:00.003+01:00

Check out my latest project: JS Central, a website with JavaScript news and links.

What is the difference between a shim and a polyfill?

2011-12-20T07:47:00.002+01:00

In the JavaScript world, one frequently encounters the words shim and polyfill. What are those things and what is the difference between them? Read more »

Duolingo: using free online language lessons to translate texts

2011-12-19T13:05:00.002+01:00

Duolingo achieves an impressive win-win: Customers get to learn a foreign language for free while helping the company translate texts. Read more »