Recently I took stock of my Javascript programming efforts, with the intention of simplifying things. To date I've put together three sites which make use of Javascript:
- debian-administration.org
There isn't very much javascript in use upon this site, and you might be forgiven for thinking there was none at all if you don't have an account, or don't login.
There's a tagging system which is starting to creak under the sheer number of different tags, and several back-end parts of the site make use of AJAX calls.
Most of the script lives in a single file common.js which I cobbled via a process of trial and error, augmented with a little copy & paste coding.
It works. But I knew I could do better ..
- ctrl-alt-date
This was my first attempt to make a site be truely dynamic and "pretty". It has succeeded in that respect, although the lack of members makes the site itself essentially a failure.
This time round I decided that I'd utterly refuse to write my own Javascript. So instead I used script.aculo.us (damn I hate those ugly URLS).
This library made it almost too easy to add flash. I liked it a lot.
Having said that though the sheer scope of the library and the way it didn't fit in the way that I coded made it painful to use at times.
It works, and it works well. Like it? Yes. Love it no?
- mail-scanning.com
This site has a fair amount of javascript upon it, but that isn't obvious unless you're actually a user. The only piece that I can recall is the real-time count of spam caught upon the front-page. (Realtime stats are cool!)
Most of the code here is the simple kind, reverting back to the way I worked on the Debian Administration site; we're talking about basic effects such as:
- show/hide a div
- make an AJAX request every now and again.
- Do a bit of auto-completion.
To get more of a feel for whats out there I wrote this initially with my own code, then later migrated it to jQuery.
Quite frankly jQuery rocks. The way it works is a little strange at first, but it is so natural after a while. As an example:
// find the div called "foo" - hide it. $("#foo").hide()I'm liking this library a lot recently, but only time will tell if I use it more.
In conclusion I filed #473125: ITP jQuery failing to see the existing ITP already present.
Once the package makes it through the NEW queue I will update it to follow the skeletal javascript-policy.
I disagree about the naming scheme suggested by that policy primarily because we already have packages of several of the "big" javascript libraries, such as scriptalicious, and see no gain in renaming them. But otherwise the policy is sane enough; following it will cause no harm at the very least.
ObQuote: Stand By Me
