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  passing parameters to XMLHttpRequest’s onreadystatechange function

I’ve been smashing my head against this all day – but I finally got something working consistently and reliable, so I better damn well document it. This is as good a place as any, and hopefully it will be useful to others.I needed to make an Ajax call, so I turned to my good friend XMLHttpRequest. One wrinkle was that I needed to pass in a parameter to it… so I tried:var test = "bar"; req = new XMLHttpRequest(); req.open("GET", myURL, true); req.foo = test; req.onreadystatech...

   JavaScript,AJAX,XMLHttpRequest,parameter,onreadystatechange     2011-10-09 01:32:09

  Productivity is just work

The other day, I wrote a post declaring that I will no longer try to increase my productivity. This doesn't mean I won't read productivity blogs, and tweak things, and manage my "system". It means I no longer think about any of that stuff as having anything to do with productivity. Productivity is what happens when you're doing work. Enhancing your productivity is what happens when you do a lot of work, for long enough to get better at it. Look, throw all your stuff in Dropbox, live yo...

   Productivity,Work,Enhancement     2012-01-05 08:18:36

  The 5 types of programmers

In my code journeys and programming adventures I’ve encountered many strange foes, and even stranger allies. I’ve identified at least five different kinds of code warriors, some make for wonderful comrades in arms, while others seem to foil my every plan. However they all have their place in the pantheon of software development. Without a healthy mix of these different programming styles you’ll probably find your projects either take too long to complete, are not stable enou...

   Programmer,Type,Anti-Programmer,OCD     2012-01-11 04:40:09

  Three things you should never put in your database

As I've said in a few talks, the best way to improve your systems is by first not doing "dumb things". I don't mean you or your development staff is "dumb", it's easy to overlook the implications of these types of decisions and not realize how bad they are for maintainability let alone scaling. As a consultant I see this stuff all of the time and I have yet to ever see it work out well for anyone. Images, files, and binary data Your database supports BLOBs so it must be a good idea to shove ...

   Database,BLOB,Log,Image     2012-05-02 04:44:25

  The 15 Golden Rules of UI design and flow.

Last night a good friend of mine showed me the latest Need for Speed game on the iphone / ipad. Quite an impressive feat of rendering and a relatively good game to boot. However, the front end, wow, a classic case in UI mis-engineering. Loads of stats, pages and pages of bits and pieces to wade through – a classic case of over stimulating the player with lots of decisions they have no business making – stuff that will significantly change their game play experience but being...

   UI design,Game design,Feature     2012-04-05 12:20:18

  Books for entry level C programmers

In computing, C is a general-purpose programming language initially developed by Dennis Ritchie between 1969 and 1973 at Bell Labs Its design provides constructs that map efficiently to typical machine instructions, and therefore it found lasting use in applications that had formerly been coded in assembly language, most notably system software like the Unix computer operating system.To learn C, we need to read many C books and have many practices. Here we summarize a list of C books which may h...

   C,Book,Beginning     2012-07-26 14:00:51

  A Programming Idiom You've Never Heard Of

Here are some sequences of events: Take the rake out of the shed, use it to pile up the leaves in the backyard, then put the rake back in the shed. Fly to Seattle, see the sights, then fly home. Put the key in the door, open it, then take the key out of the door. Wake-up your phone, check the time, then put it back to sleep. See the pattern? You do something, then do something else, then you undo the first thing. Or more accurately, the last step is the inverse of the first. Once you're aware ...

   Programming,Idiom,Strange     2012-01-04 08:12:25

  7 Resources Every JavaScript Developer Should Know

A web developer today is expected to be an expert in every aspect of their craft and JavaScript is no exception.  Years ago JavaScript seemed to be more of an annoyance, producing those trailers at the bottom of the browser.  This has changed and JavaScript is a first-class citizen as a functional programming language and what seems like an unlimited number of resources covering the language. I have been doing more and more JavaScript lately, both on the front-end and some node.js...

   JavaScript,Resource,Study,Website     2012-03-15 12:54:40

  8 Very Simple and Easy Steps for Designing a Successful Launch Page

There are such a large number of new companies launching nowadays that you truly can't stand to waste your time for coding for your wonderful products. Also make sure that you are additionally making a list of your potential clients for your application. A Launching page will permit you to connect directly with great business people who can transform your company into compelling brand envoys. You can browse making a coming soon page or even a complete page including the items with their complete...

   app development, mobile apps, app design, app development sydney, iphone app, iphone app development     2014-12-12 00:40:10

  Testing like the TSA

When developers first discover the wonders of test-driven development, it’s like gaining entrance to a new and better world with less stress and insecurity. It truly is a wonderful experience well worth celebrating. But internalizing the benefits of testing is only the first step to enlightenment. Knowing what not to test is the harder part of the lesson. While as a beginner you shouldn’t worry much about what not to test on day one, you better start picking it up by day t...

   Testing,QA,TSA     2012-04-11 13:41:19

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