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Showing posts from September, 2011

New blog domain: kula.blog

It's still work in progress but new posts will be published on  https://kula.blog/ Thanks to 11ty base blog RSS is working from the start so it should be easy to add to your reader if you still use any :) If now then I hope you can sign up to the newsletter where I'll be publishing new posts and interesting articles to it from time to time. Please use  kula.blog  from now on.

Git in Windows

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There is new application for Git that works on Windows and Linux (using Mono). http://code.google.com/p/gitextensions/ This application is interesting because looks stable, and have very friendly installer (msysGit is included). I saw it on Windows and this works pretty stable.

Three.js Basics

http://fhtr.org/BasicsOfThreeJS/#1 Very good presentation about Three.js basics by Ilmari Heikkinen. Very descriptive and friendly, I can recommend it.

Convert Website to Kindle

As I buy Kindle I want to read some websites as books. For now I found  http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/faq.html#how-do-i-convert-a-collection-of-html-files-in-a-specific-order I hope it would work :)

Rozmiar jest wrogiem

PL:  http://www.devblogi.pl/2011/09/rozmiar-jest-wrogiem.html EN: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2007/12/size-is-the-enemy.html Really good reading about problem with large code base. In Java this is based of "good practices" to create a large number of boilerplate code that in most cases is doing nothing.

jParallax - Create interactive landscapes

http://webdev.stephband.info/parallax.html Can be used to create interactive landscapes, logos and whatever You want to became like 3D. See demo: http://webdev.stephband.info/parallax.html Content is changing while moving with mouse over it, so it look like 3d, like there is depth somewhere. This is like layers in theater.

Book Review: NetBeans IDE 7 Cookbook

NetBeans IDE 7 Cookbook  by  Rhawi Dantas  is book for developers who want to start using NetBeans. Book can be both for students and those more experienced but not familiar with NetBeans. Most chapters are specific to Java, but there are couple more language agnostic, like using version control systems. I read this book from beginning to end, but this book was created to user when needed. I want to create JavaEE project, check out index, find chapter about it, read while creating and done! Tips for other readers: Do not read chapter about JavaFX - this is about 1.3 version, even Oracle created version 2.0 for Java.  Creating JavaME application is supported only on Windows. Feel free to start reading wherever You want.  Links to book: Book:  http://www.packtpub.com/netbeans-ide-7-cookbook/book Table of contents:  http://www.packtpub.com/toc/netbeans-ide-7-cookbook-table-contents Sample chapter:  http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/2503OS-Chapter-7-EJB-App

TodoMVC - Examples of MVC for JavaScript

Searching for MVC library for JavaScript can be difficult, they all are different. How to chose based only on documentation. You can end up with something that not fits You, but has nice looking site ;) Addy Osmani created repo with Todo Examples written in most popular libraries: https://github.com/addyosmani/todomvc With this it can be really easy to try and see how these libraries are really working in more serious app than hello world. Backbone is interesting but I must admit that most of them are rather new to me. YUILibrary and Sproutcore are rather not for me. Anyone is using one of : JavaScriptMVC Knockoutjs Sammyjs Spine Any recommendations? I rather don't want to use something heavy.

Semantic Versioning

Idea is not new, similar approach can be found in many places but now it has nice name. Lately I read Node Web Development and Node.js modules in npm used this approach to make npm so awesome. Read more at website:  http://semver.org/ In a brief: There is API, it can be code or whatever but this is treated like API. Use 3 numbers: 1.2.3 - <major>.<minor>.<patch> Patch - bugifex - API comatible Minor - new or compatible API changes Major - any incompatible API changes How this can help? By using "strict" convention this can be used by tools (like npm) to make it easier to You to update dependencies. If You use library in version 1.2.0, then You can update easily it up to 2.0.0! Of course it is better co confirm it by developer that this really works, but if library developer uses semver like You, it should! There are many other rules, if You can't use it, at leas show it to You's co-workers, it would be great to really standardiz

Vim for JavaScript

On reddit there is interesting movement to create list of all Vim command that are especially useful for JavaScript development. I do not copy this list, just see it at reddit:  http://www.reddit.com/r/vimcommands/top/?sort=top&t=all Some of them are new to me and I will try to use them like: gf - open file whose name is under the cursor :3 - go to line by number yy, p - yy copy current line, p - pastes it below :vsp file - open file in vertical new window Ctrl-ww - switch between windows <Ctrl-v><number>jI#<ESC>- comments lines (inserts #), number - of lines (arrows doesn't work for me, but you can insert many number of numbers eg. <5><2> = 7), then j nad UPPERCASE i, last text to insert. <ctrl-v><number>jx - deletes column - undo comment gg=G - format entire buffer (gg - beginning of file, = - auto indent, G - end of file)

Pollyfilling and Performance

Consider this post more like stream of thought, rather than complete manifesto, or whatever this looks like.   Today I read  http://www.impressivewebs.com/browser-performance-pickle/ This article is just about problem, maybe about problems our industry has with older browsers. Progessive enhancement is awesome, but how in "real life" really make it working, how to convince you'r boss that this is good, how to convince customer? Sometimes You just CAN'T. On the other side we have pollyfils, we make it working in older browsers. Add hacks, more html, even more CSS. Code is ugly but finally works everywhere! Everyone is happy besides You. After some time they want to change something on site, and You tell them ridiculously long estimation. Why, because this is nightmare to maintain, to test again and again if this little tiny images for shadows works as supposed in IE6. And what tell You them when this site is really slow in this old browsers? Impossible to fix. G

2D Shapes in CSS

http://css-tricks.com/examples/ShapesOfCSS/ Shapes like: square, circle, oval, triangle... pacman, star, talk bubble.

Slicebox - 3D image slider

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Slicebox - Awesome slidebox! http://tympanus.net/Development/Slicebox/

Emberwind

http://operasoftware.github.com/Emberwind/ Really worth to try. Game is fun, works fast. Recommend!

Best Tools for JavaScript Development

http://www.misfitgeek.com/2011/09/best-tools-for-professional-javascript-development/ List groups: Testing BDD Mocking Editors (there should be VIM, IDE's are slow! But I will try them.) Code Protection (this point should be compressors, this "protection" can be confusing, you really not protecting anything.)

CSS Crush - PHP CSS Preprocessor

PHP Preprocessor like SASS or Less. http://the-echoplex.net/csscrush/ Looks like it has all of most common CSS Preprocessors features. Probably the most important one is PHP as implementation languge ;)

Book Review: Node Web Development

Node Web Development by David Herron  is book written for those who want to start using Node.js for real Web Applications. Book is short and written for purpose of practical examples. Of course if it will be longer it would be even better but this is very good starting point for learning Node.js. Book is rather short, and to be honest when I sow it I was thinking: This is too short! But just after first chapter I realize that maybe short, but chapters are full of examples and explanations. I was impressed how reading it changed my opinion. Tips for other readers: Use Node.js from 0.4 tree, mostly because of modules, most of them are not ported yet to 0.5. If You want to create apps as fast as possible read chapter 5 at the end (except of those that want to use HTTPClient) Install Databases before installing npm modules. Links to book: Book:  http://www.packtpub.com/node-javascript-web-development/book Table of contents:  http://www.packtpub.com/toc/node-web-deve

Bootstrap Toolkit from Twitter

Bootstrap if toolkit from twitter that will bring to Your website good looking CSS at start point. http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/ Bootstrap uses LessCSS  but can be used just as CSS, Less just will help you customize Bootstrap faster.

Progressive Enhancement 2.0

New post on Paul Irish blog is answer for a question: Do websites need to look exactly the same in every browser ? The best analogy is to explain it like old black&white TV's and new HD ones. Do any TV station still use  only blask&white to serve exactly the same to all users? Of course no! To read more about how to explain it to customers, and why you should think how to make your site fast, not identical:  http://paulirish.com/2011/tiered-adaptive-front-end-experiences/ Most of ideas are from Nicholas Zakas presentation: Progressive Enhancement 2.0 (Conference Agnostic) View more presentations from Nicholas Zakas

Go Beyond NoSQL, Use NoDatabase

Post at Martin Fowler blog about sites without Databases. http://martinfowler.com/bliki/MemoryImage.html It Start from question why we use db's and about alternatives. This is very interesting Idea to create website snapshots like in version control systems, for small sites this really can be useful, but for big ones?