2011-11

HTML5 context menus in Firefox 8+

[2011-11-24] dev, firefox, html5, webdev
Starting with version 8, Firefox supports HTML5 context menus. This post is a summary of “HTML5 context menus in Firefox (Screencast and Code)” by Chris Heilmann for Mozilla Hacks.

Type inference to make JavaScript as fast as statically typed languages?

[2011-11-23] jsengine, dev, firefox, javascript
Type Inference brings JS improvements to Firefox Beta” by Brian Hackett:

Named parameters in JavaScript and ECMAScript 6

[2011-11-22] esnext, dev, javascript, jslang
This post explains what named parameters are, how they can be simulated in JavaScript, and what improvements ECMAScript 6 will bring. Obviously, what is said about methods here applies to functions, as well.

Video: Prototypal inheritance in JavaScript

[2011-11-21] talk, dev, javascript, jslang, video
I recently held a talk on JavaScript inheritance for a MunichJS meetup at Google Munich. Courtesy of TNG, a video has been recorded which I have uploaded to Vimeo.

Bridging the module gap between Node.js and browsers

[2011-11-19] dev, nodejs, javascript, jsmodules
Update 2012-07-04: amdefine: use AMD modules on Node.js

One of the advantages of Node.js is that you can use the same programming language – JavaScript – on both server and client. When it comes to modularizing code that is portable between the two platforms, one is presented with a major challenge: they approach modularity differently. This post examines four solutions for writing cross-platform modules.

The Node.js v0.8 roadmap

[2011-11-19] dev, nodejs, javascript
Ryan Dahl has posted the roadmap for version 0.8 of Node.js. The following sections describe the highlights.

Execute code each time the Node.js REPL starts

[2011-11-17] dev, nodejs, repl, javascript
If you start the Node.js binary without any arguments, you are in the REPL (Read-Eval-Print-Loop), a JavaScript command line. This post shows you how to execute code each time the REPL starts. That allows you to, say, automatically load modules you want to use.

Web audio APIs and the low-level approach

[2011-11-16] audio, html5, webdev
HTML5 Audio APIs - How Low can we Go?” (by Mark Boas for The Worm Hole) explains that there are currently two competing web APIs for audio. One is supported by Firefox, the other by Chrome and Safari. The former takes a low-level approach, the latter is higher-level.

What JavaScript would be like with significant newlines

[2011-11-14] dev, javascript, jslang
Update 2012-03-17: More explanations in Sect. 1.

Brendan Eich recently repeated that he regrets not having given JavaScript significant newlines. This post explains what that would be like. Quote:

Economic inequality is bad, even for the rich

[2011-11-11] society, life, business
The TED talk “How economic inequality harms societies” by Richard Wilkinson explains an interesting fact: Beyond certain basic wealth, the well-being of a society depends much more on income differences being small than on incomes being high on average.