August 12th, 2010
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Desktop Development, Web Development
(Opinion, Rants)
How do you define a real programmer? There are many facets that you can use to judge someone’s skill as a programmer: ability, experience, enthusiasm, dedication, etc. But I recently read an article by RethinkDB blogger Salva, and he boils all of these points down to one item, memorization. Some people agree with this idea, but I do not, at all.
I have heard several companies bragging about having interview scripts like this, saying that this kind of testing is the most effective way to filter out unqualified applicants. However I think that the post by Salva perfectly demonstrates just how flawed this concept is. If there is one thing you should have learned in school, it’s that standardized tests are a terrible metric for gauging skill or intelligence.
But more to the point, I think that this is the wrong way to define a real programmer. Allow me to present you with my definition of a real programmer.
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July 18th, 2010
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Desktop Development, Web Development
(Opinion)
In my code journeys and programming adventures I’ve encountered many strange foes, and even stranger allies. I’ve identified at least five different kinds of code warriors, some make for wonderful comrades in arms, while others seem to foil my every plan.
However they all have their place in the pantheon of software development. Without a healthy mix of these different programming styles you’ll probably find your projects either take too long to complete, are not stable enough or are too perfect for humans to look upon.
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May 17th, 2010
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Web Development
(CSS, Internet Explorer, Tips and Tricks)
Are you an obsessive compulsive web site optimization nut? Are you willing to sacrifice maintainability for one less HTTP request? Have people ever asked you to seek a mental health professional because of your OCD? If so, then you are in good company. Us optimization nuts may not be very well received when we start building a project, but we become very appreciated when someone asks how to make it scale. Depending on who you ask, web optimization is either the most useless talent ever or the single most important skill on a web developers resume.
Allow me to broaden your optimization toolbox with the ultimate HTTP connection killer, the data URI scheme. Most web developers have never heard of data URIs but they can dramatically reduce the number of HTTP connections required to download your web site.
This article will explain what data URIs are, how to use them, and how to properly implement them.
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April 25th, 2010
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Web Development
(How-To, JavaScript)
Have you ever had to try to figure out the dimensions of a page or browser in JavaScript? This task seems very simple at first glace, every browser has simple properties that will give you this information. Unfortunately, not every browser agrees what object these properties belong to, or even what the names are.
I’ve built a couple nifty tools in JavaScript that need to know the exact dimensions of the document as well as the exact dimensions of the browser view port. Since these scripts are uses on very high traffic sites with a very wide audience I have had to make sure they work in a multitude of browsers.
In this article I will show you how I support all modern (and not so modern) browsers with one function and I will explain a little about exactly what techniques I’m using to accomplish this.
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March 26th, 2010
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Web Development
(.NET, AJAX, JavaScript, jQuery, Reviews)
There are many occasions where you’ll want a JavaScript template system to handle the rendering of data. If you’re building any kind of JavaScript widget or user interface that will consume JSON data, then build presentation with that data, you really should consider using a JavaScript template engine. It can save a lot of future headaches and make updates a much easier task.
Up until now there has really been only two good option for doing maintainable presentation templates in JavaScript, jTemplates, and PURE. These two template engines allow you to build layout with data.
- jTemplates is a plugin for jQuery, and of course jQuery is by far my favorite JavaScript library, the only one I’ll ever recommend. jTemplates is an abstraction for data and presentation. It even has its own pseudo-language syntax for the template engine.
- PURE (Pure Unobtrusive Rendering Engine) is a template engine that works with several JavaScript libraries, including jQuery. This system is designed from the ground up to use valid, unobtrusive techniques to build out it’s templates. PURE templates are normal in-page markup that the JavaScript replaces data in to. A very elegant system indeed.
Now there is a new option coming out along with the new Microsoft .NET Framework release.
- Version 4.0 of the Microsoft Ajax Library (aka ASP.NET AJAX) includes a new client side template system using the DataView control which is actually quite good. Frankly, it feels like it was inspired by taking the best of jTemplates and PURE but it is enhanced for ASP.NET developers.
I’ve been playing around with this new system and have been pleasantly surprised. Templates are relatively easy to construct, implementation is straight forward, and it works quite well. There are some pros, and some cons when compared to the other template systems.
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