These days we have embeddable share and follower buttons for almost every aspect of the web, except of course for GitHub. I wanted to help remedy that, so over the weekend I created a customizable JavaScript button (that uses the … Continue reading
Welcome to Part 1 of a two-part tutorial on building complete mobile web applications in JavaScript using DocumentCloud's Backbone.js, jQuery Mobile and LABjs. In Part 1, I'll be covering a complete run-down of Backbone 0.5.2's models, views, collections and routers … Continue reading
Today we'll be taking a look at the decorator pattern, a structural pattern that promotes code reuse and is a flexible alternative to subclassing. This pattern is also useful for modifying existing systems where you may wish to add additional … Continue reading
In design patterns, the flyweight is considered one of the most useful classical solutions for code that's repetitive, slow and inefficient – for example: situations where we might create large numbers of similar objects. It's of particular use in JavaScript … Continue reading
I just really dig JavaScript. I'm a writer, speaker and a JavaScript developer for AOL (yes, we're still around!).
I'm also a member of the jQuery core [Bug Triage/Docs/Learning] teams where I (try) to assist with bugs, documentation and developer evangelism. Some of my other OS work has included contributions to Modernizr and other similar projects.
My personal OS projects include jQuery UI Bootstrap and TodoMVC, which helps developers compare JavaScript MVC frameworks. I've also written 'Backbone Fundamentals' and 'Essential JavaScript Design Patterns' and occasionally tech review books like 'JavaScript Web Applications'.
First do it, then do it right, then do it fast. This is one fundamental I always keep in mind when developing anything.
If you're a developer wishing to learn something new, regardless of skill-level, remember that as important as it is to read, it's equally as important to get out there and *do*.
Create a new gist or fiddle, pop open the console and experiment. It's effing fun.
Finally, try to be open to constructive criticism - none of us know everything and at worst, you might just learn something new that will help you become a better developer.
I feel honored to have quite a few friends, many of who are spread across the world but remain active and passionate at what they do.
Thanks to @mathias and @jdalton for giving us jsPerf, @divya, @necolas and @paul_irish for h5bp, @peolanha for always being available for a tech review, @jaubourg for just being awesome, the guys at @bocoup for their constant badassery and the rest of the OT-crew for being ah-mazing.
Last but not least, thanks to @elleohellez for understanding my obsession with the web and being the best a guy could ask for.
