I actually read the Dynamic HTML book and have a lot of good ideas on how to make a good JavaScript library. I was just hoping I wouldn't have to ;) I'm hoping Kupu meets my needs. JavaScript's not a bad language. It's just very misunderstood, very abused, and a bit undeveloped. It's really the DOM that causes the most problems. :-/
Oh well, sorry for the distraction. Best Regards, -jj On 5/2/05, Ian Bicking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Donovan Preston wrote: > > I think there is no substitute for experience. Personally I have > > found that using abstractions which try to shield you from browser > > unpleasantness merely obscure the real source of the error or > > incompatibility which inevitably happens anyway. > > I don't think you can Make Anything Possible given the right library, > and I think overambitious efforts (especially ones that cover up > Javascript entirely) are unlike to succede. But the library can give > direction, and help keep wary developers from venturing into difficult > territory. Libraries embody a lot of knowledge beyond their > functionality. If you emphasize innerHTML-based functionality because > it works, then you've indirectly saved the library users time and > headaches. In this way a more limited library that emphasizes the > easiest constructs could be very useful. > > This is why I personally am looking for that small library that does all > the convenient or particularly useful things I'm interested in, and does > them really well, but doesn't get too fancy. > > > Of course, not everyone has the time or patience to accumulate the > > needed experience. With the renewed interest in DHTML thanks to > > gmail, Google Maps, and AJAX, I think it is time to set up some > > community specifically to discuss modern javascript techniques. > > Searching the web yields pitiful results, with lots of ancient > > javascript designed for copy-and-pasters who want rollovers on their > > animated gifs. > > > > The shared brain power of a new list and web site which attracted > > users from communities other than the Python community could be > > valuable, as well. At the same time, we could subtly enlighten people > > to the joys of Python just by exposing them to it. > > The Javascript development community is young in other ways. Public > repositories and basic open source project management practices are > uncommon. We're still getting over a stage where everything is > presented as recipes instead of working code; I think that's widely > recognized, but it doesn't mean that there are a lot of good patterns > for how to do that. And the prototype stuff makes it hard for OO > programmers to get their bearings. > > Little things have left me feeling unsure. Just to give one example, > how should I "activate" a library? Should it run onload automatically > and search the page for activating elements? I guess that's kind of the > "unobtrusive" technique, but it often seems rather wasteful. Should it > be activated by a function call? How are options passed in (and later > managed)? Should it involve a prototype for storing options, then > methods for attaching the object to elements on the page? Hell, I still > don't understand prototypes in Javascript at all. It's this stuff where > I get confused, and so I'm actually looking for more than a Javascript > library to smooth out a few rough edges -- I want a model for good > Javascript development that I can learn from. > > -- > Ian Bicking / [EMAIL PROTECTED] / http://blog.ianbicking.org > _______________________________________________ > Web-SIG mailing list > Web-SIG@python.org > Web SIG: http://www.python.org/sigs/web-sig > Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/web-sig/jjinux%40gmail.com > -- I have decided to switch to Gmail, but messages to my Yahoo account will still get through. _______________________________________________ Web-SIG mailing list Web-SIG@python.org Web SIG: http://www.python.org/sigs/web-sig Unsubscribe: http://mail.python.org/mailman/options/web-sig/archive%40mail-archive.com
