Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Played with jQuery and spent some time on StackOverflow

StackOverflow is really addictive once you get to the stage where you can help people by answering some more-than-trivial questions. I have been spending a lot of time each day and sometimes it feels like a waste of my time. It probably is, now, when I should be learning more and then think about helping even more. True, it makes me look up stuff I wouldn't have come across if I worked on my own, but moderation is needed in looking for questions to answer. The game mechanics of SO are amazing with all its reputation points and badges. If ever I am going to build an addictive service, SO will be one of the most important case-studies.

JavaScript is such a beautiful language (if you neglect the bad parts). Learning it over a few weeks, I understand how powerful and expressive it can be. It is the browser that made it look bad. Watching the Crockford video on "The metamorphosis of Ajax" has cleared the mist I always used to see on Internet Explorer. Microsoft, in the early years of the browsers, really pushed JavaScript 'in the browser' to newer heights. I will keep on encouraging my friends to move away from the IEs, but will not blame Microsoft as being evil.

I have learned a good amount of jQuery and JavaScript over the week. I am looking forward to put all the learning to use. I have some ideas for small web applications. What better way to test your knowledge and skill than to try and build things using them.

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