Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Domains

Domain: nikhilk.net

Stories and comments across the archive that link to nikhilk.net.

Comments · 7

  1. Re:the suck/non-suck divide by Osty · · Score: 5, Interesting · on The Future of AJAX and the Rich Web

    Javascript isn't a great language. It's not robust, and it's difficult to really do good architecture with libraries using it. HTML is a pretty decent method to mark up text, but wasn't meant originally to ever be interactive.

    Once you understand it, Javascript is an awesome language. It's C/C++/Java-like syntax hides its fundamentally functional underpinnings. The core datastructure in Javascript is a method. Everything can be represented in terms of methods, even to the point of not using any variables. With that in mind, it's a very powerful language that is often maligned precisely because of what it is -- many people just don't "get" functional languages (why C/C++/Java/etc are so popular and Lisp/ML/Haskell/etc are not), though you can certainly write procedural or even OO code in Javascript. It's also very easy to shoot yourself in the foot with Javascript, depending on implementations (using anonymous methods is a good way to leak memory in IE if you're not careful, for example).

    As a scripting language, Javascript has a lot too offer. Too bad it's been forever tied to HTML and web stuff.

    However, I suspect if AJAX and HTML were really so great/powerful/easy, many people would have stopped using flash already. I have no love for flash, but it can do things much more easily/faster than AJAX can for many tasks (disliking both technologies I'm pretty non-biased here).

    People like Flash because it gives you lots of pretty, shiney bits for very little work. It's also vector-based, so you can build a pixel-perfect layout like so many bad web designers want ("Our web site must look exactly like our magazine"). Too many people associate "AJAX" with flashy Web 2.0-y visual effects (fading highlights, rounded corners, wet reflections, large fonts, etc), when AJAX is really about communication. If all you care about is glitz, go ahead and use Flash. If you want to build something that actually works well, I'd go with javascript+HTML.

    However, I suspect if AJAX and HTML were really so great/powerful/easy, many people would have stopped using flash already. I have no love for flash, but it can do things much more easily/faster than AJAX can for many tasks (disliking both technologies I'm pretty non-biased here).

    You may not want to hear it, but Microsoft has much of that with ASP.Net AJAX, as have others like Script#. In each case, you're writing most (or all, in the case of Script#) of your code in a .NET langauge and the compiler handles generating the javascript appropriate for your target browser(s). These work with at least Firefox and IE, and should also work with Safari, Opera, and others with minor tweaking.

  2. Script# ? by JoelMartinez · · Score: 1 · on Five AJAX Frameworks Reviewed

    too bad they didn't look at Script# ... good stuff :-)

  3. Saw something like this ages ago by Utopia · · Score: 2, Informative · on Using Google Maps With a Photo Album

    http://www.nikhilk.net/Prototypes/PhotoMap/

  4. Re: Generated code quality by dumky · · Score: 1 · on Morfik Defends IP Rights Against Google

    Have you looked at Script#, a prototype C# to Javascript compiler/translater?
    Compared to GWT, the generated code is beautiful...

    http://www.nikhilk.net/Entry.aspx?id=121

  5. Re:Not to muddy the waters with facts... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0 · on Microsoft Releases Atlas

    Production ready release, see http://www.nikhilk.net/Entry.aspx?id=112

  6. Re:Good but will it be adopted by geekboy2k · · Score: 1 · on Five Reasons Why Web 2.0 Matters

    In addition to other posters comments about OWA, MS has also just released their new "Atlas" platform which is basically bringing AJAX tech to the "average programmer". See http://atlas.asp.net/. It's still in the alpha stages, but some people are doing some cool stuff with it already. One of the MS guys has put up a site that demos some of the interesting things you can do: http://apps.nikhilk.net/VirtualPlaces/ (still not working in Firefox). Sure it's just another AJAX'y mapping site, but it seems MS is committed to this project.

    They are also coming around in the standards-compliance area (Visual Studio 2005 is leaps and bounds ahead of their previous product) and the ASP.NET team seems to be committed to adhering to web standards.

  7. On the subject of .NET and IDEs by enkafan · · Score: 1 · on San Mehat On Web Services & .Net

    For those doing ASP.NET development (all six of us), check out Nikhil Kothari weblog. Pretty exciting the tidbits he's posting about Web Matrix, the free ASP.NET IDE. Depending on how the full release goes, I may just move most of my "personal" ASP.NET development to Web Matrix just based on ease of use alone. No intellisense, but most of my heavy lifting of code I'll be putting in .dlls created in VS.NET anyways.