Web 2.1

AMF - Errata and other ramblings

Tim — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 15:18:42 +0000

I've been doing a lot of research into the AMF protocol recently. I've had the pleasure of reading the AMF0, and AMF3 standards cover-to-cover several times, with a view to understanding them well enough to write my own debugging tools. More about those projects another time.

Not only are the standards fairly brief, but they contain errors. I've not managed to find an official errata, so here's my starter for 10. (more…)

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JASPA Sneak Preview

Tim — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:51:25 +0000

JASPA means: "JavaScript; Alternative Syntax with PHP"

If it wasn't for copyright problems, the "AS" might stand for ActionScript, because this is its primary influence. In a nutshell, JASPA allows you to write a strongly-typed, class-based language modelled closely on ActionScript, and have it compiled into regular JavaScript source code. In an even smaller nutshell, how about - "ActionScript for the web browser".

JASPA is my long term pet project, and because it's taking so long, (what with a full time job and all), I've decided to offer a pre-release version for download as a sneak preview of what's on offer. This version is not ready for production and is offered as merely a proof of concept for developers who are interested enough to take a look.

» Download JASPA 0.1
This is a pre-beta version and is for the command line only.

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jsobf - command line tips

Tim — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 21:58:18 +0000

Here are some quick tips on how to use the jsobf command line program effectively.
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jsfmt and jsobf available for download

Tim — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 19:46:55 +0000

By popular request I have made my JavaScript minimizer and obfuscator available for download. The jsobf program strips JavaScript source code down to the minimum whitespace required to separate the tokens, and performs automatic semicolon insertion to completely irradiate the need for line breaks. It also offers some obfuscation by renaming identifiers. (more…)

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ActionScript Emptiness

Tim — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:09:05 +0000

I'm a great believer that if you're going to be good at something you should understand it a the lowest level possible. Every ActionScript developer I talk to at the moment is migrating to AS3 and mostly we talk about all the high level differences it has with AS2; the API, the event mechanism and so forth. But let's not forget the little things. It's often complacency toward the smallest components that cause the most trouble. It seems like an odd situation to know how to flip a cube around in 3D space, but not really know the difference between null and undefined. This is a real situation though, and it means bugs deep down in complex code just waiting to ruin our lives. (more…)

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Job board spam

Tim — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 09:20:58 +0000

I do marvel at the ingenuity of spammers sometimes. Despite being crap programmers, they do have a knack for coming up with new ways to deliver their poisonous junk. It's almost enough to make me consider life of crime.

After placing a job advert on Gumtree, we (my current employer and I) received a touching email from someone intersted in our junior developer role. Clicking their portfolio link took us to a spammer's "search" portal complete with gambling site pop-ups.

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I Feel

Tim — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 11:01:11 +0000

My brother just launched a new personal project of his, consisting of two web sites; ifeellondon.com and ifeelnyc.com. The idea, in a nutshell, is that you browse for activities in your home city by how you feel, rather than what you might want to do, or where you might want to go.

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JavaScript Obfuscator and Minifier

Tim — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:23:04 +0000

This tool is based on a full JavaScript parser that is part of a much bigger plan. I won't go into that just yet, but along the way I'm going to be releasing useful tools like this as they come about. It's useful to have some short term goals to keep up morale and ensure that the framework is working well.

> Try it here: Obfuscate and minify your JavaScript code

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JParser now with Unicode support

Tim — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 21:37:54 +0000

I've updated my JavaScript parser to include full Unicode support.
Check out the test interfaces for:
» Full parser;
» Code highlighting.

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JavaScript Syntax Nuances

Tim — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 12:49:32 +0000

If you learn a programming language it is unlikely that you will read the formal language specification that defines all the laws of the syntax. You may never read it at all. It is more useful to learn by example, or at least topic-by-topic. However, a mere ten years after writing my first few lines of JavaScript, I read the ECMAScript standard and it threw up some things I did not know.

There are many things that you can write in JavaScript that are perfectly valid syntax, but that you probably never will write. Here are a few that raised an eyebrow or two.

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