JavaScript

JavaScript Sessions

Whether you’re looking to learn the language, brush up on your skills, or figure out what tools and frameworks can help you avoid it altogether, there’s a session perfect for your level at The Ajax Experience. Browse all JavaScript sessions, or select a title:

 

•Continuations in JavaScript with Kris Zyp

Are you tired of writing complex callbacks and encapsulating asynchronous operations to simplify coding and improving the linearity and manageability of complex rich internet applications? Continuations can prevent the endless series of callbacks that can occur in normal client-side Web application code, and result in much cleaner, easier to maintain code. This session will delve into the motivations for continuations, which eliminate callbacks. Including code samples for using continuations, attendees will learn about continuation-related programming language concepts, including cooperative threading, coroutines and futures. The different continuation engines/compilers such as Narrative JavaScript, Jwacs, Djax and Rhino and their distinctions will also be discussed. You will learn:

  • • The fundamental concepts of continuations and how to utilize them to your benefit;
    • How to start improving your code by using different continuations engines to encapsulate asynchronous operations such as Ajax requests, sleeps (setTimeouts), and linear user interaction;
    • How to use cooperative threads and futures to handle conceptually parallel tasks in the user interface.

•Hybrid JavaScript: Extending the capabilities of the browser as a platform with Nathan Naze, Software Engineer, Google

The evolution of JavaScript (and browsers' support for that evolution) is molasses slow. Competition in the browser market is a good thing, but the absence of a hegemonic authority in the arena results in uncoordinated browser development -- a headache for developers who can't rely on cross-browser support for new DOM features and language versions.

Fortunately, creative developers have been looking for means of including richer content into their applications without waiting for browsers to catch up. In this session, Nathan covers some tips and techniques for making JavaScript "play nicely" with Flash and other plugins, draw arbitrary graphics, work well across browsers, and other topics.

In this session, you will learn:

  • • A number of techniques that can be used to overcome JavaScript's limitations;
  • • That the domain of what's possible with JavaScript is wider than you think;
  • • How to widen the domain of what's possible with JavaScript.
    • How to come up with clever solutions to make web applications even more featured and capable in comparison to what's available in native apps.

•Introduction to Jester with Pete Forde, Unspace Interactive

Jester is a JavaScript implementation of REST, modeled after ActiveResource. You can use it to read, create, and save your application's data in your browser-side code. Pete and Jester creator Eric Mill will explain why Jester is a potentially disruptive technology, and give a live demonstration. Since the last Ajax Experience, Jester has gained the ability to request data from external domains.

•JavaScript: The Good Parts with Douglas Crockford, creator of JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)

Are you sick of working around browser bugs and incompatibilities and ready to throw the towel in on JavaScript? Or, do you love it and need some ammo to defend it?
In this session, Douglas Crockford shows how to peel away the layers of cruft and good intentions to reveal the true nature and power of the language.

•Jester: Hands-on Tutorial with Pete Forde, Unspace Interactive

Following the "Intro to Jester" session, Pete and Eric will host a live code hacking workshop. Bust out the Red Bull and corn chips, because every willing participant will leave with a simple but functional Jester application. Our goal is to change how you approach designing web applications.

•Refactotum: JavaScript with Stuart Halloway, CEO, Relevance, Inc.

Open source JavaScript powers the web, and contributing to open source is great for your career. In a few short hours, you can learn, teach, promote your skills, and improve the quality of the community. In this talk, Stuart shows you how, by doing it. He takes an existing JavaScript application or library, and shows you how to refactor the code and contribute it back to the community:

  • • Download the source code;
    • Build and run tests;
    • Review code to find some problem areas;
    • Refactor code;
    • Create and submit a patch.

•The Future of JavaScript with John Resig, Creator, jQuery

This session provides a comprehensive look at the current state of the JavaScript language, looking forward to JavaScript 2. Understanding how the language is used in contexts outside of cross-browser web development can give you a fuller appreciation for what the language is capable of.

John looks at the features of JavaScript 1.6-1.8, JavaScript 2, Server-Side JavaScript development (using Rhino), developing server-side web applications using JavaScript (with Helma and Phobos), and finally a look at the new JavaScript engines being produced by Mozilla, and others.

In this session, you will learn:

  • • How to begin exploring the new features of JavaScript;
  • • How to begin using server-side JavaScript in your daily development;
  • • The current capabilities of JavaScript, and the direction the language is heading.

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