The Bungee Blog

If you’d like to hear me talk about why raw JavaScript and raw DOM interfaces are not enough, and how Prototype and script.aculo.us make it all nicer to play with, check out the fresh podcast at Pragmatic Programmers.

Sorry for the average audio quality on my side of the interview: it was done through Skype…

Let me know what you think!

As promised, here comes the first edition of Neuron Workout Solutions™, a series that answers the questions and challenges at the end of many chapters in the book. I did not start earlier in order not to spoil the challenge for recent readers, but I think now the time comes.

So here we start, with the first chapter featuring Neuron Workouts: chapter 4, “Regular JavaScript on Steroids,” that discusses how Prototype augments native JavaScript objects such as strings, numbers and functions.

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Thanks to channel sales (sales not directly from Pragmatic Programmers, such as through their website), all of a sudden I see the book hit the 5,000 bought-copies (paper and PDF included) mark.

Woah.

And there are, currently, about 50 subscribers to this blog’s feed. Slightly below 1% of the buyers. The top 1%, obviously: you want fresh info in addition to the book’s contents, don’t you? I already outlined what this blog would have (and indeed, it should feature its first Neuron Workout post within 2 days), but what is it you guys expect to find here?

At any rate, uh, “thanks for watching.” As they say.

As announced on the Prototype blog, version 1.6.0.2 just released.  Like all 4-digit releases, it’s about performance improvements and bug fixes. Specifically, it is backwards-compatible with 1.6.0.

It does feature a security update revolving around JS environments with no Same Origin Policy (SOP), such as Dashboard Widgets or Opera Widgets; you can read all about it on the library’s blog. The fix was backported in the 1.5.1 branch to produce 1.5.1.2, for those who cannot yet migrate to the better shores of 1.6-ness.

An item of note though: along the way, we finally added Opera to our officially supported browsers, starting with version 9.25.

Right.

So I get my first review on Amazon.com, and what do I learn in there? That my ghosting example b0rks. Dang! The code is simple, so what gives?

Well, it so happens that my own code in Scripty’s ghosting support for non-absolutely-positioned elements is flawed: it relies (for a reason I can’t fathom in retrospect) on expandoes, and attempts to remove them when it’s done, which IE (both 6 and 7) does not support (it lets us removeAttribute it though).

As a reminder, an expando property is a custom property you slap onto an unsuspecting DOM element. You can think of it like a custom attribute on an HTML tag, but at the DOM level.

This issue was noticed before, too, and a ticket was opened in Trac a month ago, but I sadly confess I have no time these days to monitor anything in the Trac but the changesets.

Since expandoes are unnecessary in this very context, I stripped the superfluous indirection in the source code, created a patch, updated the ticket and my book’s online codebase (both the expanded file and the archive files).

So feel free to grab the new files and go along! I can only hope Thomas will apply the fix soon, so the official release is in sync.

Update Jan 21: Thomas applied the patch. You can grab the edge version from Subversion trunk.

Just FYI, here’s the system I came up with for Neuron Workout solutions:

• Roughly one installment per week, usually probably in mid-week
• A maximum of 5 workouts (single items in the Neuron Workout sections) per installment
• Chapters 4 to 6 will come first, then I’ll just pick workouts through the book in a less sequential way
• When a workout has multiple valid solutions, I’ll try to present at least a few
• I’ll try to highlight “bad” solutions as well, explaining why they’re bad, to stir you away from them.
• As the paper book releases around January 11 at major retailers (e.g. Amazon.com), I’ll give another two weeks without spoiler to potential readers before starting the solutions here. So that means the first installment should appear around January 28.

I look forward to starting this, and seeing what kind of productive debating can result in the comments.

In the meantime, Prototype Core’s hard at work on 1.6.1, so stay tuned.

As 1.5.1 had 1.5.1.1 in its time, 1.6 got a 1.6.0.1 bugfix release, which was tagged in the Subversion repository on December 5, 2007.

Obtaining this version

For some reason, the official website’s download page was not updated, but I think it should be soon. In the meantime, you can grab it here.

What’s new?

As I said, it’s a bugfix release. So it’s entirely about fixing little qwirks, unlike the upcoming Prototype 1.6.1, which will feature a good deal of new features. Still, grabbing 1.6.0.1 means you’re on better ground when it comes to stability and correctness.

For all the details, check out the top of its changelog.

Here it is. At least in my part of the world, so there are still up to 10.5 hours for you, my dear readers, to enter 2008. What are you doing reading this in 2007? You should be gearing up for the celebration!

2008 is poised to be an exceptional year. In the JavaScript world alone, a number of very exciting things are coming, starting with a crystallization of ES4, but also plenty of cool client-side web technologies about storage, SVG, mashups, extensions of XHR, and much, much more!

And of course, 2008 will see Prototype 2.0 and script.aculo.us 2.0. We’re not keen on announcing release dates, but with “2008,” I certainly feel safe enough Work on “Scripty2″ is already very well on its way, and we have a number of sharp ideas for Proto2 as well.

I’ll make sure you know about the new, cool, exciting features that we’re cooking up.

In the meantime, here’s to a fabulous 2008 for you and your loved ones. Make it worth every minute!

Here it is! The paper book apparently crossed the Pond in a few less days than expected, for I received my first author copy today! There’s really nothing for it: holding the thing in one’s hands is an altogether different sense of achievement, as an author, from perusing the PDF.

I hope you’re all getting your own copies delivered; all pending shipments had been processed on Tuesday last week, so hopefully you all got your copies in this holiday season!

Happy holidays to you all, and let’s start a Proto/Scripty-rich 2008.

Hey,

Well, here it is. The paper books have landed in all the major warehouses, and those early buyers who got the combo, or pre-ordered the paper book at PragProg, got their anxiously-awaited book shipped off early this week.

While I am no fan of the dead-tree form, it certainly has its advantages: it’s usually much easier on the eye than the electronic form (the resolution is higher, the white doesn’t glare, etc.), and it’s easy to carry around and read through on, say, public-transportation-based commuting. I certainly bought more than a few recent IT books in print.

On the other hand, the PDF is in color, syntax-highlighted, searchable, hyperlinked, etc.

Frankly, you should get either the PDF or the combo. And both are available only from PragProg.

However, I understand how non-U.S.-based readers may favor their local Amazon or bookstore, if only to save on shipment fees and reduce delays. But then, major online retailers, not to put too fine a point on it, move at glacial speed. Amazon.com, for instance, despite having numerous copies of my book in their warehouses, is announcing it online for January 11. (They are taking preorders, though.)

By the way, if you already got a whiff of the book and love it (“hey, thanks!”), should you wish to repay the author in kind, you might want to know I get much better royalties on paper books sold directly through PragProg than through “channel sales” (retailers). So there it is: full disclosure, and perhaps a reason for a few of you to buy it at PragProg instead of somewhere else.

In short, the book is available now. If you can’t wait to get your hands on the paper form, get it at PragProg. If you can wait (but should you really?) and favor other online retailers, buy it there.

It is my fervent hope that the book will reach as large an audience as possible, and help each and every reader big time with their JavaScript tasks. I look forward to reading about your feedback in the forums, in this blog’s comments, and in the online retailers’ comment areas.

Coming up

I’ll start posting extra content in here on what I hope will be a regular basis. There are quite a few ideas and tips that I didn’t feel belonged into the book (or it would be a real brick), and that I saved for this blog. I’ll also post possible solutions and further discussion on the Neuron Workout sections. I might even start the Proto/Scripty version of the famous Ruby Quizz in here!

Thanks to everyone at PragProg who made this book possible, and to all my tech reviewers for their excellent help. As for you, my dear readers, I can only say this: read and enjoy!