Backbone.js and it’s ilk …

For the past couple weeks I’ve spent some time getting back in to the Rails. Well, not particularly rails, but I used Rails to get a some playtime in with Backbone.js. I was a bit skeptical at first. I’ve never been a fan of “heavy” javascript front-ends, because they tend to produce massive amounts of untested code.

However, after spending a half a day with backbone.js … I was sold. The awkwardness of linking jQuery directory to DOM elements is gone. The nested jQuery handlers are much more structured in the hands of backbone.js. The eventing system that it provides is top notch and the seamless integration with RESTful back-ends (such as Rails) is excellent.

On top of that the structure that it puts around some of your javascript really allows people who aren’t very familiar with Javascript to recognize simple patterns, because of the structure and readability of the code.

I recently listened to a podcast on Backbone.js and came to the realization that there are a ton of these libraries popping up around the web (knockout.js, spine.js). Of course, each of these libraries has their own personal take on things, but if you haven’t taken a look at one of these frameworks under the assumption that “jQuery works just fine for my needs.”

I would highly recommend checking one of these libraries out.

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I drawed a cup …

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Unsagely crafted from my iPhone.

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You don’t want some Mozilla Firefox for lunch?

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Unsagely crafted from my iPhone.

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Dependency Injection Performance: Part 1

Let me begin this by stating that I’m not a statistical person by any stretch of the imagination. I don’t crunch numbers and I really don’t have a knack for this sort of thing. Nonetheless, I do have a strong interest in dependency injection in general; which is why I decided to follow up on the topic …

This will be the beginning of a series of posts on a few of the more popular dependency injection frameworks in the .NET framework, including, but not limited to: AutofacNinject,UnityCastle Windsor, and Spring.NET.

This sort of all began a couple weeks ago when a co-worker of mine, Philip, began  doing a bit of performance testing on some of the dependency injection containers. Why? Well, the application we work on was seeing some performance issues that ended up being the retrieval of objects from our container. Ultimately, his finding led to a caching mechanism that we applied to the container, but also led him down this path of questioning the overall performance of the container(s) in general.

My initial findings are pretty inline with what Philip found, but I still have a hard time actually believing the numbers I’m seeing. Mostly because a few of the numbers are so absurdly high that it just makes me question whether or not the tests that I’m running are actually relevant or correct.

Unfortunately, I don’t have any pretty charts and graphs to post at the moment, but I do plan on putting some of the data together tomorrow once I have a few more of the containers implemented and a bit more hard evidence.

Stay tuned …

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Type A(B) Personality …

This past weekend, my wife told me that I was a Type A Personality. She didn’t mean it to be offensive by any means, but nonetheless, the statement threw me for a loop, because I had always considered myself as the opposite of a Type A (Type B).

Quite a while ago, I read the book “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room.” It was the book about the Enron corporation and the people who were behind that whole train wreck. That book had always shaped my view of a Type A Personality. My perception of Type A people was that they were extremely driven, highly motivated, ruthless people who would stop at nothing to reach their goal. Sacrificing ethics, morals, and knocking people over to get what they wanted.

You can imagine my surprise when my wife told me that she thought I was one of those people. I didn’t take it personally, but it certainly piqued my interest. My first reaction was to brush the statement off and had her look up the traits of a Type A personality on Wikipedia. Surely after reading the Wikipedia definition of a Type A my wife would come to her senses and realize she was wrong … wrong.

She did and we went through the list of things that makes a person a type a personality: ambitious, aggressive, controlling, business-like, highly competitive, impatient, pre-occupied with his or her status, time-concious, and tightly-wound.

Again, I shrugged off the accusation even after going through the list. I did, however, make a mental note to do some self-reflection later on. After some thought, I’ve come the conclusion that I am somewhat Type A. Although, I think, as with most things in life, I tend to be in the middle of the two personalities. I would probably ultimately classify myself as a Type AB personality with more emphasis towards the Type A.

The really surprising thing to me is that i never considered myself to be a Type A personality at all. I’m still not sold on the fact that anyone views me that way at all. I can’t say as all the attributes of a Type A fit me, but I certainly do have a lot of the traits. ambitious, a bit controlling, highly competitive, impatient, time-concious.

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Thirty (30) days of thought …

I recently watched a TED talk that described doing something for 30 days straight. I’ve been procrastinating it for the past few months on the basis of, “Well, I don’t have a calendar yet to mark my progress off … so I’ll wait until I get one.” Needless to say, my brain and I recognize that as procrastination at work.

I’ve recently found myself getting in to this rut of not starting things or not completing things, because there is that one little thing that is holding me back: there’s not enough time, the learning curve is too big, I don’t have a calendar yet to start that, my blog isn’t how I would like it to look … I’ve become very good at finding excuses on how not too succeed at something.

Actually, succeed is a very relative term there. I really don’t consider writing a blog every day for a month to lead me to mass success, but it certainly gets me in to a habit and the realization that I can start and finish something.

So, here we go … day 1 of my 30. I make no promises that each and every one of my posts will be relavent, interesting, or coherent, but damn it … I will post something.

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They’ve replaced the outer sun visor with cardboard … #fail

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