2012-01-26

Two great books to study JavaScript

Since I've been concentrating mostly on Flex development since 2004 and have been getting back to JavaScript development in the last year, I thought it would be a good idea to get a couple of books to refresh my skills. Thus I've listed below two books which I've picked up recently to this effect:

I've just started reading the second book and I must say both books are well written and are worth the dollars I spent. Both are for intermediate to advanced level and you sure do learn some little nuances of the language that go the extra step to help a developer write the most efficient JavaScript code. So go check them out and become and better developer!

Flash saved my hockey viewing

I've been meaning to write about this since the day it happened, but haven't gotten around to it until tonight. Call me buzy or lazy, doesn't really matter, but hopefully you will find this short story interesting.


I was at home a couple of nights before Christmas 2011 and the Canadian World Junior Team was playing that night. So, like any good Canadian I turned on my TV to watch in HD the fastest sport in the world. But alas there was a little problem. Since early December I had been experiencing problems with my HD receiver on a on-and-off basis. Unfortunately the problem occurred that night and watching the hockey game on my TV was simply impossible. At that same moment I remembered that TSN was streaming the game live on their website, so I went to my PC to watch the game. But sitting on a chair and watching a hockey game is not as comfortable as sitting on my couch. That's when the light blub went off in my head: "wait a minute, why don't I watch it on my Android tablet?". So sure enough, I turned on my tablet, surfed to the tsn.ca website and watched the game in its entirety - and while sitting in my bed now, which was even more comfortable :) 


Thing is, it didn't occur to me until the next day, that it was thanks to the Flash Player running on my Android tablet that I was able to watch the game streaming live. If I would have had an iPad, I would not have been able to comfortably watch the game that night. Just goes to show you, that in 2011 you still need Flash to get the full web experience and that HTML5 browsers still have a ways to go.

2012-01-13

My mini-browser review

Being the first post of 2012 and seeing how I am currently brushing up on my JavaScript skills, I'd thought I'd post a mini-browser review.


Chrome
Over the last month, this has been my browser of choice at both home and work. Based on my perception, it is the fastest browser out there. It is also smooth (meaning initial start-up & opening app tabs) and when something goes wrong, you can just open up the Chrome Task Manager and kill the offending tab. I think its what most people think Firefox should be like. The only downside is that the developer tools are clunky to work with.


Firefox 4+
I have always love this browser from the start and it has been my main browser since then. But do I dare say, it seems bloated at times? The initial start-up can cause it to freeze for 30 secs (with only 2 app tabs mind you) and if a tab crashes, it takes a moment or two to recover. But for development purposes, its tools are unmatched.


Internet Explorer 9
I just can't use it. Its UI, while trying to catch up to Chrome and Firefox is still ugly. Some web sites still don't render properly and it is still behind its in implementation of HTML5/CSS3 web standards. Also how many releases have Chrome and Firefox have their been since IE9 came out? That's what I thought. Slow output from a company that needs to greatly pick up the pace. I'll wait till version 10 to see if my mind changes.


Opera 10+
I think Firefox stole its UI :) I use it from time-to-time to just see what it can offer and its pretty good. Pages load fast and it has interesting built-in development tools. How fonts look could use a little work however. It truly is the little browser that could.