I’ve been writing JavaScript for almost as long as the language has existed. My first “script” was a simple onMouseOver="window.status='Hello World'" affair back in the days of Netscape 2. I spent the dot.com years writing popup windows and hover images and scrolling boxes and other basic stuff. Then I took a break from doing much JavaScript – this almost exactly coincided with the years that some “proper” programmers took a a look at the language and applied a bit of rigour to it. So when I got back into JavaScript a few years ago I was way behind the curve.
I’ve managed to catch up a little and by using the jQuery library plus a few plugins I’ve done some quite cool things despite not having the sort of knowledge that real JavaScript pros have these days.
I’m a front end engineer, I’m not a “proper” programmer, I don’t come from a programming background and have had close to zero formal training. I only vaguely understand the principles behind object oriented programming and design patterns and so on and I think that I think that they are good things, but I have no real idea of how to apply them to my code.
Speaking of which, unminified it’s 70Kb, 1500 lines and growing. There’s a big refactoring job that needs doing there before it becomes impossible to maintain. But how to start?
Yesterday, I tweeted "According to my LibraryThing records I’ve read 141 books this year: 26 novels, 7 non-fiction, 102 graphic novels and 6 ‘other’."
Then I went out and bought another two graphic novels… But it must be said that most of the comics I’ve read this year came from West Norwood library, and now that I’ve exhausted most of their good ones, and some of their bad ones, I think 2010 may be slightly less weighted towards graphic novels.
How many of my 2009 books have you read?
Available as a poll over on Live Journal (you don’t need an LJ account to vote, just an OpenID account which means an account from WordPress.com, Google, Yahoo, Blogger, etc.)
Doctor Who on Christmas Day, that was a bit of splendid nonsense, wasn’t it? And not long now until we find out how it all ends.
I’ve been passing the time between parts one and two by dipping into the festering mire of DW fandom to see what crackpot speculation people have come up.
So there you go, I’ve proved that almost everything that could happen in part two has already been done in the novels, and that I’m as anal and crackpot as any other fan.
I suspect that the reality of part two will be even more sane/crazy, predictable/unpredictable, clichéd/original than the above.
Today was the 10th anniversary of my first date with Lettice. Back in 1999 we went to see The Matrix in Streatham. Today we had an adventure to celebrate.
First up was the Robot Zoo at the Horniman Museum. Did you know that it took three people to drive a chameleon?
Then we did a bit of shopping. Lettice bought beads and I bought Doctor Who books.(About Time 3 2nd edition is 500 pages long and has an end note about the Chuckle Brothers, how can you not want it?)
If you missed James May’s plasticine garden at Chelsea you can now see it at the Royal Festival Hall.
Then we went on the London Eye. Yes, we live in London. Yes, we work in London tourism. Yes, it’s been open for nine years. No, we hadn’t been on it before.
Then there was yarn shopping. Followed by Yo! Sushi (between you and me, the County Hall branch is always nice and quiet in the evenings and only a short walk from the heaving, 45 minute wait to be seated, restaurants along the Southbank).
Anyway, I’ll do a proper image post either tomorrow or on Monday, in the meantime there are pictures on Flickr.
I wonder if the staff in my local library think I have trashy tastes as all I ever take out is comics and tv/film tie-ins. Of course I do have some trashy tastes but I’m also a snob ‘cos I buy the good quality books but borrow the trash for free.
Very True Music: South Africa 26 - 7 British Lions :-(
So I found this file, last modified 10 June 1997, on a set of back ups and it’s a pub quiz that I ran in Balliol bar. In fact considering the date I suspect that this is the night that pink_weasel first clapped eyes on me and thought “nice guy, shame about the jumper”.
Well, here’s what I’ve been reading this year. I said there was a lot of graphic novels.
Over on the LiveJournal version of this blog you can fill in a poll to show which of these you’ve read as well (not necessarily in 2008). I understand that you can use OpenID to log into LJ rather than creating an account there but I’ve never tested it myself.
Non-Fiction
A History of Venice by John Julius Norwich
Counterknowledge by Damian Thompson
Dry Store Room No. 1 by Richard Fortey
JavaScript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford
jQuery in Action by Bear Bibeault and Yehuda Katz
Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean by John Julius Norwich
Stand and Deliver: The Autobiography by Adam Ant
The Earth: An Intimate History by Richard Fortey
The Economic Naturalist by Robert H. Frank
The World Without Us by Alan Weisman
Fiction
A Spectacle of Corruption by David Liss
Azincourt by Bernard Cornwell
Flashman’s Lady by George MacDonald Fraser
Lost in a Good Book by Jasper Fforde
Making Money by Terry Pratchett
Matter by Iain M. Banks
Sword Song by Bernard Cornwell
The Coffee Trader by David Liss
The Well of Lost Plots by Jasper Fforde
Graphic Novels
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: No Future For You
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Wolves at the Gate
Black Orchid by Neil Gaiman
From Hell by Alan Moore
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier by Alan Moore
John Constantine Hellblazer: Bloodlines by Garth Ennis
John Constantine Hellblazer: Family Man by Jamie Delano
John Constantine Hellblazer: Fear Machine by Jamie Delano
John Constantine Hellblazer: Joyride by Andy Diggle
John Constantine Hellblazer: The Laughing Magician by Andy Diggle
Lucifer: Inferno by Mike Carey
Lucifer: Mansions of the Silence by M Carey
Planet Hulk Omnibus by Greg Pak
World War Hulk by Greg Pak
Serenity: Better Days by Joss Whedon
Ultimate X-Men :Ultimate Collection Book 2 by Mark Millar
Doctor Who
Ahistory by Lance Parkin
About Time 6 by Tat Wood
Doctor Who: Bullet Time by David A. McIntee
Doctor Who: Business Unusual by Gary Russell
Doctor Who: Companion Piece by Mike Tucker
Doctor Who: Emotional Chemistry by Justin Richards
Doctor Who: Endgame by Terrance Dicks
Doctor Who: Festival of Death by Jonathan Morris
Doctor Who: Grave Matter by Justin Richards
Doctor Who: Halflife by Mark Michalowski
Doctor Who: Sometime Never… by Simon A. Forward
Doctor Who: The World Shapers by Grant Morrison
Faction Paradox: This Town Will Never Let Us Go by Lawrence Miles
Odds and Ends
Star Wars: Dark Empire II by Tom Veitch
Star Wars: Vector Prime by R.A. Salvatore
Star Wars: Dark Tide 1 – Onslaught by Michael A. Stackpole
Star Wars: Dark Tide 2 – Ruin by Michael A. Stackpole
cranky
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