John Resig: Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja Update
ejohn.org
ejohn.org
1. Knew about PPK[0], didn't know about JZ[1]
2. Feature detection came about from writing this book! Which generalizes too: writing is a great way to innovate (something pg has said, too).
3. A nice little jab at GRRM, who thoroughly deserves it.
4. An exciting glimpse into the future of computer science pedagogy by way of JavaScript in the browser. (And I can't help but wonder if this is an oblique response to the recent Alan Kay Dr. Dobbs interview, where Kay asserts, "The Web, in comparison, is a joke. The Web was done by amateurs."[2])
5. Points out that even the best of us can get stuck in a procrastination loop.
6. Resig is going to finish a JavaScript book [3]
[0] http://www.quirksmode.org/
[1] http://perfectionkills.com/
[2] http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/interview-wit...
comp.lang.javascript's FAQ on browser-sniffing: http://jibbering.com/faq/notes/detect-browser/
"Yawwwwnnnnn.... this is, quite possibly, the most inane set of ramblings set up by someone who has obviously never created a JavaScript library of any kind, nor has used JavaScript code in any sort of production environment."
https://groups.google.com/d/msg/comp.lang.javascript/QVlJ0bz...
>> Do you have any idea how many agents jQuery will identify as IE?
>The ones we care about?
As to why jQuery moved to feature testing, we discussed that in the jQuery 1.3 release notes: http://docs.jquery.com/Release:jQuery_1.3
But I do agree that your opinion was biased by the behavior of the people participating that discussion (if that's what you meant). Nonetheless, IMO, a community leader should be able to deal with criticism, and I don't recall reading personal attacks.
As of your link, I was being sarcastic.
I'm 100% fine with code criticism - I think you'll find no JS library more open to it than the jQuery project, we've shifted the code base many times over the years making large quality/performance/API improvements based upon criticism. That being said I have no interest in talking with people - valid code criticism or not - if they're personally attacking me as well.
I'm not judging or anything, but sticking around on clj and trying to argument could have been very beneficial for both jQuery anc clj itself. There are ways of ignoring people in usenet, you know.
Also, Juriy, whom you cite in the book's preface, was a regular there long before his website really took off. That means you didn't dislike every member ;)
The nannying influence of people like you is poisonous to a community. Your own comment is a veiled but difficult-to-analyse attack. Your weak observation asks us cow to your vision so that we will all respect one another and feel good about ourselves. You do not respect the technical aspect of this community which would value truth and quality discussion over feeling.
Resig's actions towards clj effectively turned his whole userbase against everyone and everything that was written in that newsgroup. Thousands of unexperienced js developers shunning great advice just because it came from someone Resig had a beef.
I do believe that it had a negative effect on the javascript industry for a few years.
Or maybe I just haven't been on usenet news for a while...
It's rather amusing to see a case where I, unfortunately, fed the trolls trotted out as an example of future decision making. In this case the decision behind this was my own and largely done through my personal examination of the jQuery code base.
it took the act of writing a book to realize this fundamental design flaw.
Writers need editors. Artists need critics. Devs need QA/test.
Fortunately, letting code rest for 6+ months is a pretty good strategy for getting a "new mind".
So is explaining your work to someone else, such as writing about it.
He has gone as long as six years between book releases in the series.
He wrote the first 3 books of his 7 book series at a normal pace, about every 18 months, but then slowed to a crawl for book 4 - something like a 5 year delay. Writer's block happens, but what makes people angry is that he continues to have an extensive "extra-curricular" schedule involving workshops, cons, and travel. And he's told his fans "I don't owe you anything," and has shown not only not-shame, but active antipathy to those who have the temerity to call him out on his irresponsibility. What's worse, is that his bad behavior is being rewarded with new interest thanks to the HBO miniseries of the books.
I mean, manipulating financial markets for gain, losing your bets, and taking taxpayer money to give yourself a bonus is one thing, but leaving fantasy readers in a lurch is quite another level of villainy.
Edit, since I'm being downvoted, and that was written in a hurry on the train: I wrote a book too. It was really fucking hard, and took a long time, but I'm ultimately happy with the way it came out, and that I took the time to do it properly. The reward for that care and hard work seems to be not "great book, thanks!" but people bitching about how long it took to write.
Hence, I now have a very low tolerance for people complaining about other people's work and being whiny and entitled.
http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2009/05/entitlement-issues.htm...
Writing code (which is what most of us do here, I think) is a lot like writing books, so it's not like I don't understand blockage or the whole "having a life" thing. Heck, I could understand him never writing another word again if his muse died. That's human and understandable. The thing that draws my ire is not the lack of productivity, but the attitude he has about it. (Which is less that GRRM is my bitch, and more that he considers me his.)
>> He wrote the first 3 books of his 7 book series at a normal pace, about every 18 months, but then slowed to a crawl for book 4 - something like a 5 year delay. Writer's block happens, but what makes people angry is that he continues to have an extensive "extra-curricular" schedule involving workshops, cons, and travel. And he's told his fans "I don't owe you anything," and has shown not only not-shame, but active antipathy to those who have the temerity to call him out on his irresponsibility.
You didn't call him a bitch, but I do get a feeling that you feel he should drop his extra-curricular activities until he is done with the book, he owes his fans, should show shame for not completing the book etc.
He is a writer who writes books for living. You bought his book and that entitles you to the book and nothing else. Extra-curricular, owing something to you and shame for not following up aren't included with the book.
> (Which is less that GRRM is my bitch, and more that he considers me his.)
Yeah. If he says "I will write when I feel like writing" is totally considering you his bitch, right? Gosh, the sense of entitlement.
Sure, here you go:
> has shown not only not-shame, but active antipathy to those who have the temerity to call him out on his irresponsibility.
There is actually a good reason for readers to prefer writers who demonstrate some sense of responsibility for finishing what they start. Writers that do not demonstrate a sense of responsibility do not seem to actually finish their work. And whatever Gaiman or Martin say, there is a (at least weak) contract between author and reader that the writer will finish a series that he begins. If the author does not want to make that contract, then he is free to write a stand-alone novel, and then write sequels as he likes.
By deciding that him taking time writing his book and not living as a hermit is "a mistake" and "irresponsible" you — and others in your situation — are very much calling him your bitch.
> Can you think of any other author who's done this?
Erm... yeah? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Jordan
Here's a second one for the same price: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Knuth
And a third one because why not: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazushi_Hagiwara
> something that GRRM not only hasn't revealed
At this point, does GRRM even have deadlines?
> And whatever Gaiman or Martin say, there is a (at least weak) contract between author and reader that the writer will finish a series that he begins.
No, there is not.
> If the author does not want to make that contract, then he is free to write a stand-alone novel, and then write sequels as he likes.
That doesn't make a lick of sense, the author could fucking be hit by a bus tomorrow and you as a reader would be left in the cold just the same, except without the ability to find shit to bitch about.
Here's an idea if you don't like waiting and the risk that includes: only read finished series. There, you're done, the advice is free and have a nice day.
I can't help but cheer for GRRM, even though I'm waiting for the next book to be published.
The best way to get a project done is to
1. need the money
2. not get paid until you finish
On a selfish note, writing HTML seems to be much easier than producing a properly formatted PDF page. So I enjoy technical writing, but not enough to go through the hoops of for-paper (or paper like e-books) publishing.
With that said, I usually just go to the print page of some links and read. You will be surprised how many sites inadvertently give the best reading experience through their printer page (NYT for example)
I think the "hard" part is properly paginating things? And I guess generating table of contents, inner-book-links, things that my blogging platform (Octopress) handles in a way that I've been used to as a Rails templater.
PDFs predate both CSS and the legion of webdevs we have available now. It's effectively vestigial.
However, PDFs do allow for digital signing, which is not a feature webpages can have AFAIK.
Same deal with MP3 vs other formats. PDF is a sort of gold standard in being able to precisely lay out text and know it'll render mostly right on most devices (even if the format/layout is wrong for those devices).
HTML5 and EPUB are getting there but vary so much between different platforms that till now (and EPUB 3 is changing this) the quality of books in those formats has been hideous production wise. Compare the typical EPUB book against the typical PDF book in terms of whitespace, layout, fonts, and how the author and publisher intended it to look.
[0] http://www.yuiblog.com/blog/2006/04/11/with-statement-consid...
For with statements in particular, templating and scoped evaluation (I provide an example from the Firebug console in the book) are probably the two areas in which I've seen it most successfully used.
For code evaluation I only have to direct you to the creation of Coffeescript (an entirely evaluated language) whose innovations have directly influenced new versions of the ECMAScript language.
They have their place and when used sparingly, but effectively, the can be formidable parts of a web developer's arsenal.
> For code evaluation I only have to direct you to the creation
> of Coffeescript (an entirely evaluated language) whose
> innovations have directly influenced new versions of the
> ECMAScript language.
If nothing else, surely it should be avoided in production purely for performance reasons.
So they _can_ be used effectively if one really knows what one is doing, but they're a bit of a footgun.
You can imagine code like:
function () {
with (match("Foo a b")) { return a + b }
with (match("Bar a b")) { return a - b }
}
function () {
with (match("[a, b]")) { return a + b }
with (match("[a]")) { return a }
with (match("[]")) { return 0 }
}
Basically, the with statement gives you a bit of access to the variable scope which is very useful in adding features to the language. It isn't quite as flexible as some alternatives (e.g. macros) but it can still be useful.
As mentioned elsewhere, using `with` is very slow: http://jsperf.com/with-versus-without
Very fitting that he's now at Khan Academy.
I've personally bought the jsninja ebook for friends and myself because I thought it was a great read and wanted to contribute to this kind of effort.
Can't wait till my paper copy ships - guess I better make sure my address is accurate still :)