So yesterday I touched on a point that when we standardize (and democratize) our data format, its going to open the door for more clients. One in particular is a frontend Javascript client. FYI, eventhough im a backend dev, I spent a significant amount of time working with frontend Javascript. Detecting browser and OS is a common task with many use cases. Im not talking about RWD, but more nuts and bolts use cases like a client download or a browser specific message.
So first, im well aware we already have BrowserMap. If we are able to properly integrate this client with our 2.0 data and standardize it with our other clients, that would be huge. So Radu, your opinion here is important. So here are some of my thoughts: -Data 2.0 will partition data into logical domains. Right now devices, browsers, and operating systems. Its very easy to make a few new domains like browsers_lite and os_lite which would be better suited for frontend use. No reason why the full blown device, browser, and os domains couldnt be used either. But my point is that we can make as many domains as we see fit to match the use case. This is one of the main goals of 2.0, domain independence. -Data 2.0 will totally clean up the pattern data. The pattern algorithm will simplify even more after this cleanup. Less normalization and less ngrams. So even faster performance and less code. This means that this algorithm will be more accessible to smaller and different clients. -This is a cloud solution that requires no backend. The client and data are independent and can be versioned and used directly off a CDN. This is how all modern js frameworks work today. The client and data can be packaged together and they can be downloaded and served locally, lots of options. The point here is the versioned releases, as we release new data versions and updated, the javascript clients can say upto date. No code changes required. Once the client is in, the developer doesnt have to worry about the patterns or the matching logic, its all encapsulated. This is obviously true of all clients. So, once again, this is why 2.0 gets me so excited. Thoughts?
