JQuery is a very useful tool…..in the right scenario.

If you don’t know what JQuery is it’s a JavaScript library that greatly simplifies accessing the DOM in the web browser..

For example, instead of selecting all the content with “myid” in the id attribute in JavaScript:

Document.getElementBy("myid");

You can do this in JQuery:

$("#id");

Or, say you have this HTML:

hi
hi
hi
hi
hi
hi

Instead of doing this in JavaScript (which pulls in all the elements by tag, then runs a loop to check if it has a class of “imageButton” and sets the background of those to red) :

var allLinks = document.getElementsByTagName("*"), i;
for (i in allLinks)
{
if ((" " + allLinks[i].className + " ").indexOf("imageButton") > -1) {
allLinks[i].style.backgroundColor = "red";
}
}

You can do this in JQuery with one line:

$(“.imageButton”).css(“background”, “red”);​​​​​

Much simpler right? Yes, but don’t be fooled, it comes at a cost.

Currently the JavaScript version of this script clocks in at 189 bytes minimized by the default settings of the YUI Compressor (http://refresh-sf.com/yui/).

The JQuery version comes in at 42 bytes PLUS the size of the JQuery library minimized (which on my PC is 92.6 KB). So it comes in at closer to the 92.7 KB size.

This difference is stark if you convert them to bytes.

94,882.4 bytes for JQuery and 189 bytes for pure JS.

This is a pretty big difference.

And yes, I realize, networks are faster these days. The amount of time to download this isn’t that significant really.

However, let’s say this code and functionality is much more significant in regards to JavaScript it requires. Maybe it does some really cool JavaScript’ing thing that requires hundreds of lines of pure JS.

I would pose that isn’t it a waste to have to download the entire JQuery library to run simple selects throughout the application?

The rule of thumb I go by is if I need more than two or three JQuery functions, I’m using the JQuery UI, I’m using JQuery mobile, or I’m under a deadline that prohibits me from essentially rewriting the JQuery code in pure JS then I will go ahead and include the library.

However, if it’s an easy swap to pure JS I will almost always choose that route. I may write the JQuery first, but on refactoring I go back through and swap for pure JS.

Another option to make it easier to write good JavaScript (that passes JSLint) is CoffeeScript (http://coffeescript.org/) as it helps write pure JavaScript in a much easier way to the developer.

Bottom line, if you want some easy and quick functionality and the trade-offs are nominal then JQuery (or other libraries) are the way to go.

However, if you’re concerned about speed, size, and overall performance pure JS is your friend.

A quick synopsis of GiveCamp:

GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations.

Overall we had about 20 I.T. professionals onsite helping out 6 charities. Not bad for a sleepy little college town.

We had fun, food, and long hours of coding. In the end we successfully provided the following for charities in Colorado and the Greeley area:

Camp To Belong
An international non-profit 501 (c) (3) organization, has been actively re-uniting brothers and sisters placed in separate foster, adoptive or kinship homes through Summer Camp Programs and year round events since 1995
Built a website: http://ctbcolorado.org

SOAR Youth and Adult Choir
Gives opportunities for at-risk children to become involved in a safe community of mentoring adult performers, focusing on appreciation of the arts with an emphasis on developing skills necessary for success in life.
Built a website: http://soarchoir.org

Global Refugee Center
The Global Refugee Center, Inc. is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit in Greeley, CO that works with the refugee population to improve their quality of life and assists them in achieving self-sufficiency.
Built a website: http://grccolorado.org

Mountain View Young Marines
The Mountain View Young Marines is a unit ran by the youth, for the youth, supervised by highly capable adult volunteers. We are teaching today’s youth to be tomorrow’s leaders by providing them with a safe drug free environment which will encourage their leadership abilities.
Built a website: http://www.mvyoungmarines.com

High Plains Chautauqua
High Plains Chautuaqua is great fun for anyone between 8 and 80! You’ll learn a lot about history, enjoy the excitement of live theatre.
Built a website. (Deployment pending DNS updates) http://www.highplainschautauqua.org/

Greeley Imagination Station
Imagination Station is a non-profit, 100% volunteer based, parent/child interactive playgroup in Greeley.
Built mobile site: http://m.greeleyimaginationstation.org

I’d like to again personally thank all the sponsors (http://coloradogivecamp.org/sponsor.aspx) as well as the hard working volunteers that gave so freely with their time.

Stay tuned to the coloradogivecamp.org site for updates on the next GiveCamp (tentatively scheduled for October in Colorado Springs).

This is a basic tutorial on getting started with Massive Micro-ORM.

First video post. Be gentle and enjoy!

Massive on Github: link

So it’s time once again for another GiveCamp and this time we’re hosting it here in my hometown Greeley, Colorado.

It looks like we have some great sponsors lined up for the event, the charities are filling in nicely, and volunteers are trickling in.

If you happen to be a GiveCamp “newb” and are on the fence about participating let me fill you in a bit more about how the event typically goes.

On the evening of May 4^th we will have all the volunteers get together and shortly thereafter pair folks off according to skill set and assign a project manager to the team.

Let me just say that you don’t have to be an “Uber Coder” to participate. We have DBAs, Web Designers, Project Managers, etc. participating as well.

Once the teams are sorted the strategizing starts to take place and the project outline and tasks start to take shape.

From there we work to the goal and your team will present the final product to the charities on Sunday afternoon.

Since we will be having folks from as far as Colorado Springs you are welcome to bring your sleeping bag and crash out, or if you live close you’re welcome to set your own hours.

Being at the camp full time isn’t a requirement.

I have to say my last experience (see post) was one of hard work, but it was a very gratifying payoff to see the charities get the final product at the end.

We are going to have some nice swag, free meals, and a nice fat internet connection for volunteers.
Just bring your laptop and your expertise.

GiveCamp: Website
Link to sign up: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3254535403?ref=ebtnebregn

Hope to see you there!

Kanban means “billboard” or “sign” in Japanese. Originally developed as a way for Toyota to optimize their assembly line flow it has since been used for numerous other industries and even in your personal life as a form of organization.

Getting started is pretty easy.

First assemble the following items:

Whiteboard
Sticky Notes (all same color is fine)
Pen
Dry Erase Markers

First Steps
Start by visualizing your workflow. This is one of the essential keys of Kanban.

Think about how you do a project, clean the house, or get tasks done. Then split your whiteboard into those sections with your markers based on that flow. Someone on twitter said “I’ve never done the same Kanban twice”. This is because it’s not rigid but extremely malleable. You grow with Kanban, not into it.

My Kanban at work consists of 4 columns (Ready, Doing Today, Doing, Done), but yours can be anything you want and named anything you want. There is no “wrong way”. For the sake of this post let start off with the simplest form – Ready, Doing, Done.

Basic Portable Kanban

Mentally Unloading
Now it’s time to pull all that psychic weight out of your head. Take your pen and put each task you want to get done on separate sticky notes. No need to go into detail, you can always revisit these and break them into more notes. So you might write down “take the car to the mechanic”, “call the landlord”, “finish the report”, or “push changes to source control”. Write out everything you can think of to accomplish your long-term or daily goal.

The Backlog
Once you’ve unloaded it’s time to put them on the board. The way I do this is to actually stick them off the board first in my “Backlog”. This is the area that I keep when I have new things to add. I also am constantly re-prioritizing this and the “Ready” area with new and existing tasks.

Items In The Backlog

Limiting Your “WIP”
WIP stands for Work in Progress. This is the other essential key of Kanban. Limit your work in progress.
To do this you will set limits of how many items (or notes) can be in your Doing or To Do columns at one time. Think of a juggler. A good juggler can handle juggling two items, or maybe three. Only really good jugglers can handle 4 or 5.

The key to Kanban success is to find your limits. Start off small and then work up. Think about what your limit is and why. It may surprise you that your limits can change based on the project or even mid-project. It’s ok, adjust these limits as you see fit. Mine in the photo below have a limit of 1 item WIP.

Limiting WIP. Items flowing through.

Pulling Items
Visualize a supermarket and how they stock their shelves. The customers at the end of the chain “pulling” these items. The process by which the store keeps shelves stocked is only by what gives the best profit/success and, ultimately, what is being “pulled” downstream.

Prioritize in you Backlog, move the tasks into Ready, to Doing, then Done. Watch how your WIP changes and how items flow. Tweak it where it fits your process and work flow best. This is your Kaizen or “improvement”.

Pulling To Done

Visualize your flow. Limit Your WIP. You are now ready to Kanban.

Recommended Reading: Personal Kanban by Jim Benson http://www.amazon.com/Personal-Kanban-Mapping-Work-Navigating/dp/1453802266/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329978749&sr=8-1