Javascript - I'm a real boy programming ^ language.
JavaScript has become a
powerful tool for developing web applications. There are an increasing
number of well-polished applications that deploy JavaScript to a very high
standard, Google Mail being a great example. There are several frameworks out there now that
make JavaScript development a much more pleasant experience taking it away from
a more procedural and messy coding style to a well formatted, OO, patterned
approach and it is these frameworks that allow for the power providing in applications
on the web today. A JavaScript library helps to make code that bit more
manageable offering functionality to be integrated as and when needed, more
akin to development in a native app language. JQuery as I’m sure
many of you reading this article will know is one of the more popular
frameworks and offers a lot of useful functions for a developer that would
otherwise take a lot of time to develop and test. Libraries offer the developer
a tool to speed up development of their
application while maintaining good quality code.
Frameworks on the other hand
offer a way to structure a system or component architecturally. There are particular
frameworks that allow JavaScript developers to maintain their code
and develop using tried and tested design patterns. One in particular I have
used is Backbone.js; a lightweight library that helps building applications using MVC. Now I won’t go into too much depth with Backbone or MVC at this
point as this is not a tutorial article and is out of scope of
the subject, but the structure of Backbone (Model, Collection, View, Controller) allows
for a well-formed, easy to maintain application
and, as found on Backbones’ website have
been utilised in a number of large applications such as LinkedIn Mobile, DocumentCloud and
BitTorrent.
The point of this is to
highlight that JavaScript is no longer just an option to add a little bit of functionality
here and there. It is at the core of web application development and with the
addition of libraries/frameworks it is rapidly becoming a technology to compete
with native device languages. Another great bonus to tip the balance of
development in the direction of JavaScript is that of IDE’s, your browser can
be your IDE. When you look at the development tools available to you with
browsers such as:
Google Chrome (Developer Tools)
Firefox (Firebug)
The ability to develop and test
JavaScript on the fly makes it much easier to get started in developing
JavaScript applications. Download and install your browser, you have your JS
IDE. There is no fuss with ensuring you have the latest version of Eclipse, or
JVM/JDK, no extra space or time to run/debug applications it is all there
collectively at your fingertips inside your browser.
CSS3 – Hey there good looking!
CSS3 has made a
huge impact into the aesthetics achievable in web development; this coupled
with the semantically oriented mark-up of HTML5 has allowed the creation of some
wonderful websites such as EllaDesign and HTML5Readiness.
CSS3 offers a number of effects that, up until now, designers were forced to
use images for (which as you all know increases bandwidth which we are trying
to save!). HTML5 also offers us the Canvas API which allows for dynamic drawing
on a page. Using JavaScript and CSS with canvas can achieve some stunning
effects as demonstrated particularly by Liquid Particles. CSS3
offers tools that allow for modern, crisp and professional looking UI designs
without the need for learning the multiple methodologies utilised for native UI
design, for example UI design on the Android platform uses the View and
ViewGroup nodes using XML which have requirements for how they must be laid out
and structured. CSS3 brings together this diversity of knowledge to implement a
single technology to allow cross-compatibility across devices. Boston Globe is another great example of
all the main principles of web development (particularly responsive web
design).
Nice article and links.
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