tech.thingoid

Of course the web has never had an index and everyone knows that the only way to find interesting stuff on the ‘net is to search at a search engine.

But in practice there have always been other options. In the early days of the web, sites offering a “random link” were pretty common - a click on the link would land you anywhere on the known web, which was a pretty good way of finding interesting sites. But as both the web and its inhabitants mulitiplied so did the range of subjects hosted online and the untargetted random link lost its attraction - the chances of landing somewhere interesting to you was limited. Read the rest of this entry »

We can’t go on like this. Using prompt() and alert() for all input and output (as we did in the previous articles is unwieldy and just plain dumb when there are many ways of skinning this particular cat. So this month we’ll make a diversion into some I/O options that are available to JavaScript. Read the rest of this entry »

Do you have a web page or part of a web site that you’d like to keep hidden from Google (and other prying web crawlers and robots)? Read the rest of this entry »

Is it inevitable that everyone who writes about computers must eventually do a bit about Google? Well, why fight it? Here goes… Read the rest of this entry »

Making a hash of JavaScript arrays

In the previous article we looked at creating, manipulating and extracting values from JavaScript arrays. Arrays allow us to store lists of related data using a numbered index.

But in JavaScript, the index of an array need not be a number, it can also be a word Read the rest of this entry »

In the previous article I sang the praises of JavaScript as an advanced programming language, then proceeded to demonstrate some rather unsophisticated methods of input/output. In hindsight my examples didn’t support my argument too well. In this article I will rectify things by having a good hard look at JavaScript arrays. Read the rest of this entry »

This book provides an excellent broad review of the history of information and communications technology, starting with the spoken and written word through to computers, computer networks, and the world-wide web.

Unfortunately, the title of this book gives the impression that there will be an examination of the current state of information architecture with some looking forward to the future of the “emerging profession”. Relatively little of the book is given to discussing IA as a profession, with much more weight going to the historical context. In fairness, the intention of the book is “to introduce the reader to key innovations in the history of communications systems and technologies leading to the information age”. While it is important to know where the profession is emerging from, it is just as important to look at where it is likely to emerge to. Read the rest of this entry »

Introduction

For quite some time I have not had a high opinion of JavaScript. This is probably because in the late 90s I spent far too much time trying to get so-called Dynamic HTML to work reliably on the version 4 flavours of Netscape and Internet Explorer. And also because JavaScript is far too often used in stupid and annoying ways on the Web, to name a few: pop-up windows, window resizing, dialog boxes, cursor trails, and JavaScript-only links and forms.

However I have recently discovered that, as with many other programming languages, the power of JavaScript can be harnessed for good as well as evil. JavaScript is a surprisingly powerful programming language and is well worth a detailed look. Read the rest of this entry »

Part Two: Things 6 -8

In part two we continue to look at what programming languages have in common. Read the rest of this entry »

Five languages were used to demonstrate the eight things programming languages do - Java, Perl, Python, REBOL, and Scheme. Read the rest of this entry »

What is a bookmarklet?

Apart from being another appalling neologism, a bookmarklet is a clever and simple way of using Javascript to add macro functionality to your web browser. Read the rest of this entry »

Part One: Things 1 - 5

When learning computer programming it can be difficult to separate general programming principles from the specific details of one particular language. In some languages the underlying general principles of programming may remain obscured by the sheer volume of information needed just to make a program work. General principles may not emerge until the new programmer has learned two or three other languages.

This article illustrates eight basic programming concepts with examples in five programming languages - Java, Perl, Python, REBOL, and Scheme - which will allow the reader to make comparisons and generalisations. Part one addresses the first five ideas: output, variables, expressions, input, and selection. Part two covers lists, subroutines, and repetition. Read the rest of this entry »

Programming with Karel J Robot - Part 4 of 4

In the previous episodes we made increasingly sophisticated square-making programs. In this final episode we will leave boring squares behind and make a star shape. Read the rest of this entry »