whois.doublerebel http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/index.php Lucidity vs Time en charles@doublerebel.com Copyright 2008 Pivot Pivot - 1.40.4: 'Dreadwind' Fri, 10 Oct 2008 17:34:48 -0700 60 Class Inheritance and jQuery http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=15 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=15#comm A post over at CNET Clientside Blog* (Aaron Newton) got me thinking...

jQuery gets a unfair bad rep for extensibility -- the sheer popularity of jQuery means that a large number of users aren't using jQuery to its full potential.I develop with jQuery the same way Aaron develops with MooTools -- when I see a pattern emerging, I create a plugin and extend jQuery. It's simple to create your above example -- just use jQuery.extend! (More detailed example here.)

He mentions to call a plugin method, the code would be:
"jQuery(domId).pluginName(”methodName”, [arg1, arg2]); - I hope I have that right."

It can be that way, but with a properly designed plugin it's as easy as:
$(domEl).plugin.method(arg1,arg2);

...And if you want full class behavior, with super/subclasses etc., Resig has thought of this as well:
http://ejohn.org/blog/simple-javascript-inheritance/

Also, it's been done for production. Here's a good read, a recent post about this exact topic by Dr. Danny Wachsstock.

Most of all, check out Dan Webb's port of Low Pro to jQuery.

The class issue has been discussed at length -- and solved -- in the Groups and other various forums. Therefore, I fail to see 'what really makes one framework different from another'... except that jQuery is much less verbose! Aaron's MooTools code (in the post) is nearly identical to jQuery -- except the 'addEvents' drive me nuts, thank goodness for .click() and other jQ event methods.

I think Resig feels much the same way I do about how class-based design can often be overly descriptive, and a waste of bytes.

In all seriousness, I don't want to start a flame war or framework competition any more than Aaron does. I just realized that there's so much to jQuery, even the Ajax Experience can't cover it all!! -- So I hope this brings to light another strength of jQuery and stops some FUD.

*[link corrected 10-Oct as per Aaron's comment below]

Charles ]]> 15@http://whois.doublerebel.com current, code Fri, 03 Oct 2008 13:40:00 -0700 We apologize for the delay... http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=14 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=14#comm Thanks to all Thingamajiggr II and BarCamp coordinators, volunteers, participants, and SPONSORS for an fun weekend that brought me away from the desk and connected me with scores of interesting people.

Second of all, Hello! Due to a few complications the updates will go slower than usual. The previous BarCamp post, though started around midnight last night, was not posted until midday today -- my host apparently reset the permissions on the vast majority of my files in the name of security (someone else was abusing their account on my shared host earlier this month). On top of that, Thingamajiggr II and BarCamp were fantastic, and my brain is toast from the gigantic data input.

So in the name of quality over quantity, I will be posting updates as my server and brain recover.

Charles ]]> 14@http://whois.doublerebel.com current Sun, 15 Jun 2008 20:37:00 -0700 BarCamp Seattle http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=13 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=13#comm BarCamp Seattle!

Today I facilitated a (previously unplanned) discussion at BarCamp Seattle titled "The Impact of Design Efficiency on a Sustainable World," beginning with this outline:
  • Open Information

  • No Fear

  • Social Recognition

  • ??????????

  • Profit!!!

As you can see, this is the Underpants Gnomes theory of sustainable business -- but the application is much less simple. Before you say 'duh', please read on for a wider explanation.The majority of the talk was about the efficiency of different business models and their sustainability. I originally intended to discuss choices that designers can make to provide the most efficient path to information (which is more of my specialty), specifically regarding web technologies. However, in the spirit of BarCamp the diverse group that gathered had more wisdom to impart from many different areas of business -- and I learned more than I could have asked for.

To summarize my opening:
  • Open Information

    Information wants to be free. It is inevitable. We are in the 'information age' and many businesses believe the ideal model is to be the sole owner/licensor of an amount of information. However, any information in high demand will be eventually be copied, recopied, possibly stolen, re-recorded, and shared. In many ways, this is efficient: less duplicated work, both to produce and to share information, and sometimes it leads to free promotion of a company, product, or idea. However, if IP is your business model this can be very scary -- which leads me to my next point...

  • No Fear

    IMHO, the earlier we can accept information dissemination the better. The natural human instinct is to protect a resource for our own survival -- but what if the greater gain is to pool resources and share the work for the greater good? This has happened bit by bit across the ages, and globalization and our (nearly) instant communication technologies allow us to access information and change productivity faster than ever. A good example of this is 'deep linking'. Deep linking is constantly being used on forums, social news sites, blogs, you name it. Often if the host blocks deep linking, whoever's making the post simply downloads (read: steals) the image or content and reposts it for their own purposes. At least hosting the content on the original server provides some sort of credit -- but it can also be costly for the host, as now they are serving content with less ads and pageviews than if the viewer had arrived through the front page of the host's site.

  • Social Recognition


  • ??????????


  • Profit!!!



[More Updates Later Today!] ]]> 13@http://whois.doublerebel.com current, code, think Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:25:00 -0700 Back from Europe! http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=11 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=11#comm 11@http://whois.doublerebel.com current Mon, 14 Apr 2008 15:42:00 -0700 Fresh Eurolectro Rock http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=4 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=4#comm Adam Freeland Global Underground 32 CD CoverThis Global Underground set from Adam Freeland is pretty incredible, especially his remixes - couldn't believe it when I heard the Fujiya & Miyagi cut. Epic at times, but worth it for the build. ]]> 4@http://whois.doublerebel.com current, listen Thu, 28 Jun 2007 12:52:00 -0700 ruminations http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=3 http://whois.doublerebel.com/continuum/pivot/entry.php?id=3#comm 3@http://whois.doublerebel.com current, think Sun, 24 Jun 2007 03:08:00 -0700