I’ve been having a look at Adobe AIR this evening, just to get an idea of what it’s all about. The first impression I get from reading the website is that it’s a pseudo-browser-come-Flash player. Which isn’t really that new, or exciting. Reading their Browser vs. Desktop app comparison, I’m not sure they’re really selling it well to people like me. Let me start with the way I see technology moving forward at the moment. There’s a slowly growing movement towards Netbooks and cloud computing, and I see that as a really dynamic way of moving forward. The need for powerful clients are hugely diminished, and the power is left at the hands of other people who can afford to buy huge datacentres to power widely used apps like Gmail and Facebook, as well as office tools like Google Documents. There’s movements towards putting everything on the web, to the extent of some people experimenting – and even making a living out of – webtops, such as eyeOS and other similar products. Personally, I think having an “OS” on the web is going a little too far, but there is huge potential for moving to only using web apps.
Dec 23 2008
Sep 4 2008
Yesterday, I used Google Chrome for a whole day, and got on with it suprisingly well after my opinions yesterday morning. I do agree with Chris though, there are some plug-ins I miss from Firefox:
- Permatabs
- Faviconize Tab (thx to Newboy for those suggestions!)
- Flashblock
- Adblock plus
- Twitterfox
- Firebug
- IETab (maybe we now need FFTab too??)
- It’s without a doubt the most compact and well-laid out non-confusing browser I’ve used
- Options are simple (although missing an option to prompt before closing the whole browser) and self-explanatory
- The password saving feature is pretty smart, but distinctly lacking IMPERATIVE security features such as master passwords. I’d double take if the passwords weren’t stored in plain text either… BIG security flaw in my eyes (although I believe Firefox stores them in plain text too…)
- I sort of like the integrated Google search in the address bar… not sure yet…
- It’s really really quick!!! I am taken aback as to how good the speed is, processing Javascript and just generally loading web pages. I’m not sure if that’s down to Webkit (Safari’s rendering engine), the multi-processedness, or just awesome programming on Google’s behalf. Whichever way, I like it.
- Tabs at the top took a while to get used to – and I had to move Winamp to the other screen, but it’s good – it maximises your browser space, and the lack of Status bar also helps that.
- General look and feel – although different, is really nice.
- It convinced me to move to using GMail properly with my main e-mail account, and even though the Labels concept really put me off, it makes sense and I figured out how it works.
- Plug-ins – Definately. Some things just can’t be replaced.
- A prompt to question wether the user wants to close the browser if more than one tab is open (but make it opt-in perhaps)
- If there is no decent debugger plug-ins, I’d like to see the Javascript Console mimick Firebug better
- A “slow throughput” mode. Chris told us this morning about his slow speeds on his mobile internet connection. We put this down to the multi-process format, and obviously needing more throughput, making Google Chrome actually slower than other browsers.
- A STOP button!! Something I’m guessing has been phased out of browsers, but I still use it a lot – I want it back!
Sep 3 2008
Well, yesterday evening, Google released their latest (and possibly greatest) invention, Google Chrome. It’s been the buzz this morning in the office on the tech floor. Mixed feelings all around really – Kelvin likes it, Chris thinks it lacks the pluggable power of Firefox (probably due to it being so young!), Jon wonders why his is using Live Search, Sii thinks it’s really really really quick, and I’m just not sure yet.
I’ve become quite set in my ways with Firefox, I’ve got it running quickly by disabling pretty much all flash (including YouTube). I’ve got an ad blocker as well, so that helps a little. I have to say, the thing I do like in Google Chrome is the speedy Javascript execution. I’m not sure how it works, but from what I understand it actually parses Javascript into machine code (i.e. compiled code that has been put together to work on the processor you are using). It opens a whole new window (and I’ve thought of compiled Javascript before, and it seemed to be a good idea to me… interpreted languages just aren’t as quick). Think of it like this:
Current JS Execution:
Browser parses Javascript, and goes back and forth between the JS, interpreting it, which can be slow. The parser interacts with the script, and does the calculations by processing the information. It’s constantly going back and forth. It’s just running a clean tidy binary that just parses a text file that could be very VERY messy and unoptimised.
Google Chrome’s Idea:
On page load, browser parses Javascript and compiles it into compiled binary code. The code can interact directly with the CPU, and magic is done, there is no on-the-fly parsing and it just works, and quickly.
It’s a really good idea, and I approve of it. Even though I thought of it about a year ago… hehe.
I’m an advocate of Google stuff, and I’m not too worried about them invading my privacy etc., like some people… and this browser has an opt-in button to send information about how you use the browser to Google. I’m all for this sort of thing, as it makes me feel like I’m doing my bit to make the browser better. They should have microphones so you can hear the swearing and cursing at the browser when it messes up.
One final thing to note though is that it actually uses Webkit, the rendering engine of Safari, as opposed to Gecko, Mozilla’s prized rendering engine. I’m not sure what to make of it yet, I never liked Safari, but so far things are rendering well in Google Chrome. I’ll try and use it today (despite using Firefox right now) and see how I get on with it…
Oh, and for those of you who have seen this, take a look at this for a bit of a laugh.
May 30 2008
OK, so after a couple of comments today about the slowness of loading the new Total Carange site, I’ve decided to stop using the Ext JS library. It’s very nice and all that, but on my slow server, it’s slow as hell. I’d much rather stick to some simple Javascript that I wrote myself and limit it to just that. It’s a simple site, and should load quickly, not in the 20-30+ seconds it has been today. Maybe one day when I get a fast upload speed I’ll look into using it again, but for now, it’s a no-go.
Anyway, after working at the IFE company I used to work for and dealing with enormous amounts of Javascript in web applications, I’ve had enough of masses of JS. Use JS to enhance, not as a basis.
May 30 2008
Something I’ve defended in conversation for some time has been my choice to quit college before even attaining AS Level qualifications. I maintain still that it has been worthwhile doing this and building my career in development by hard graft. And it has been hard for me, but I’m so happy with the results I’m getting.
Lets take a look for a moment at what would’ve happened if I’d have followed the standard route of A-Levels, following that onto Uni. I would’ve done finished my Media Studies, Mathematics, Computing and Physics A-Levels. Congratulations, 2 years in college, only marginally increased prospects of a job. I would’ve then gone to Uni, most likely a Computer science or IT-related degree. Three or four years later, I’ve got a degree. And a whopping big debt. And most likely, no job. I’d find a job to tide me over, something I’m not interested in doing (like 1st-line tech support for example), and tried to find a better job. I’d still have a big debt. By luck one day, I land a junior developer job for a company. I’d get paid in the region of 16-20k salary I expect. Not bad for a 21/22 year old. I’d still have a massive amount of debt though. Plus because I’d be earning over the student loan repayment threshold, I’d have to start paying it off. So that would start coming out my pay packet. In this situation, I imagine looking into the future and seeing myself earning 30k+, slowly paying off my debts accrued from student life. Not bad.
Now look at what I’ve actually done. I quit college 4/5 months into the first year. I got a crappy job at Burger King. I moved out on my own at 17, started working at Marks & Spencers for a month or two. I found a Junior test job at a software developer firm in Chichester, getting paid a pitiful £9,600 / year salary. Within a couple of months, I’d proven to them that I could code, and I was quickly promoted to a software developer. I went on to gain 4 years of professional experience in PHP, Javascript, Linux, and loads of other bits. Armed with this experience, I went off to find a new job. I dabbled in .NET for a couple of months, and didn’t like that. So I got my job here, and I won’t say how much I earn as people who I work with read this 
Nevertheless, I’m 21/22 now, and earning more than I would’ve done had I gone to Uni at this stage in my life. I worked really hard to get here, but I think it was worth it. My future now, is the same as above, minus the huge debt acquired from student life.
I do have debts, but thats because I was rubbish with money. But that’s a different story.
I read a very good article on degrees and the value of them on MSN news, so have a read of it yourself and draw your own conclusions.
