Confessions of an Eccentric Web Developer III
It's so fun to share my innermost web development thoughts. Some people get furious about some of my ideas. Luckily I don't give a damn. Take my thoughts for what they're worth.
- I think it's really odd that we can't view a desktop app's source, but a website's XHTML source is freely available. Does any less work go into it? Is there any more of a security risk? The more I think about this, the less I understand. Don't get me wrong -- this blog is proof that I'm a fan of the open community. Is it odd to anyone else though?
- I think that FeedBurner's subscriber widget is Web 2.0's version of the counter.
- I dream of the day that all web languages can be coded alike -- PHP and JavaScript with the same syntax would be awesome.
- I don't think that file extensions should be in URLs anymore. Seems amateur.
- It was interesting to see the response to my dwProtector class. Most of my audience liked it, DZone liked it, and AJAXian (who didn't seem to read the article in detail) killed it.
- I think the "<sup>" HTML tag is a little too informal for me.
- I wish the Moo crew would sell t-shirts or hoodies to help fund themselves. I'd be the first customer.
- A piece of my heart still belongs to my first sites I created at Geocities when I was 13. I don't remember the exact addresses, but I remember the topics: N64 cheat codes, South Park, and Mortal Kombat (multiple occasions, might I add).
- If you think you can drop IE6 support for any non-intranet type websites, you're a fool. IE6 isn't going anywhere and I predict you wont be able to safely drop IE6 support until 2010.
- The problem with being a "jack of all trades" is that it makes you feel like a master of none. And that's a sad, demeaning feeling.
- While MooTools users are seen as arrogant and negative, I've seen more smack talk in the other frameworks' IRC rooms than I've seen in #mootools.
- I think that each browser's effort into custom CSS properties is somewhat of an indictment on the W3C. I don't think that the W3C should be proposing Webkit-like animations, but CSS hasn't advanced in years. How long until we're using our JavaScript frameworks to do what should be CSS' job? Or how long have we been?
- I'm scheming to find a way to get to one of these conferences like The AJAX Experience and An Event Apart. Someone show me the way. Especially with this bombing economy. Why don't these conferences come to Madison? It's a great place to be!
- I curse at the people in the Apple store every time I walk by it. And I've recently thought about getting an iPhone and an iMac. I think I'm having an identity crisis.
- If I have to show one more customer how to set up Microsoft Outlook I'm going to turn in my programmer card. Seriously.
- I think you're a fool if you only put in the effort to understanding one JavaScript framework. Knowing more than one makes you infinitely more useful.
- Denying Twitter was an ignorant thing of me to do. Every developer should join Twitter and make contacts.
- The jQuery / Microsoft connection completely threw me for a loop. First, isn't there still a "the man" complex about Microsoft? And how many ASP/.NET developers use jQuery? Does Microsoft benefit more than jQuery from this relationship? One thing I do know is that this relationship does NOT mean that jQuery has "won the framework war," as I've seen in a few articles. Not even close.
As usual, let me have it.
Discussion
Be Heard!
Share your thoughts with fellow developers of all skill levels! I want to hear from you!
1) I remember when I was a kid when I got a DOS game. After few weeks of playing I decided to open the game files using notebad to see if I can change anything. After the “WTF is that” I swapped some files and BINGO … I passed to the final level after finishing the first level. lol
2) YOU’RE DAMN RIGHT xD
9) I feel the same
Actually, there are quite a few .NET Developers using jQuery. Rick Strahl is a good example:
http://www.west-wind.com/Weblog/
And more back-end devs will become interested once they see what is increasingly possible on the front-end, especially since jQuery is now in their toolkit (“Hey, what’s this?”).
– SEAN O
I remember back in the day building websites with Geocities and Tripod site builder. Mine was about rollercoasters :) Ah, the memories
1) With .Net you actually can view the MSIL code which is readable and with Reflector it transforms it in your favorite language.
3) you can with Script# or jscript.Net
18) I agree with sean, although I am currently almost exclusively using mootools with asp.net… I just love Mootools.
lol – you’re such a glutton for punishment….
More people should be laughing at No. 6. That was a classy joke.
but you can view a desktop application’s source, right? just look into the files – open them in a text editor or something?
@jane: I mean executables — applications that need to compile.
An enormous number of ASP.NET users work with jQuery. – Myself being one of them.
I needed a good laugh today. Thank you!
8 – My first website I designed was back in 1995 called Weaselette’s World hosted by Geocities. It’s amazing to think that I still have that website and update it regularly. Of course, the design is much better than when I first started ;)
14 – Nope, no identity crises there. I struggled with all this recently too. I ended up getting a Windows-based laptop to work on because Mac doesn’t have IE to test on and I like to switch back and forth between a page when working…not to mention Apple computers are dang expensive. Shame on them! Think they would charge less for something built in China.
The feedburner widget, it’s so true… Now I know why I don’t like those.
I mostly agree with your thoughts, but, as an self-taught web programmer, Ι’d like to comment them from my own scope of view.
1) Even if compiled or no, the code can be hacked if it’s not well written. See scene groups which hack all this expensive php encoded files ;)
3) After all this time to learn so many languages and their security holes, it would be somehow hard to accept that everything has been simplified.
7) I also have this question unanswered. I want be the second one to purchase a tshirt :).
16) I’d like to know more JS frameworks, but, unfortunately I don’t have much time for hacking. Prototope would be cooler than Jquery, cause I dont like the 2nd much.
Lot’s of ASP.Net programmers use JQuery (I think :-))
Microsoft had no choice… They had to go to bed with it like everyone else. She’s hotter than anything MSFT could ever come up with, and yesir… I too am in bed with JQuery.
hahaha. awesome.
I do remember the geocities days. My website was for a punk rock band I was in… oh boy.
-15. absolutely
one more thing… I didn’t know people admitted to being ASP.NET developers…
8: I couldn’t agree more, I have a collection of old sites I used to host on geocities (like when I was 13 also). They deserve to be in some sort of gallery in my opinion.What happened to geocities?
1 seems like apples to oranges, no?
You are comparing being able to see how a page is structured in a visual / presentation sense vs how something actually functions.
3) I can’t imagine having to declare variables types in javascript.
4) I wish I knew how to make urls without the extensions. mod_rewrite is scary.
5) It’s clever.
13) How much was it attend? $300? Pricey.
14) Why do you curse people in the Apple store? I wanted an iPod Touch but as I read more and more, I like it less and less.
17) Have you heard of Plurk? It’s like a timelined Twitter.
No. 14 me, too. Hope it’s really only a crisis.
14: Do it!, then you’ll know that macs aren’t perfect, but still you won’t go back…
17: how? or why? i don’t use it, how it can help me?
:)
Everyone knows that you had to have a pokemon cheat site on Geocities, that’s where the traffic was at.
Want to join my webring? haha
I miss the midi background music….well, maybe not.
re: jQuery and ASP.NET – I was possibly more ‘thrown’ than you were about the connection.
Having said that, I have been using jQuery with ASP.NET since the start of this year. Principally because ASP.NET AJAX client side stuff is very poor when compared with jQuery.
@Brett: Anyone that actually wants to do real programming, especially real programming for the web, and wants to maintain solid performance will gladly admit to being an Asp.Net developer.
David – BTW – your comnmenting doesn’t work with Chrome for some reason. It says I don’t have javascript and/or cookies enabled, but I most definitely do.
Awesome prediction on IE6
Its starting to die, by the end of the year it maybe down to just a couple of % of net users stuck on work IT systems too scared to upgrade