Pie in the Sky (January 10th, 2014)

It's the end of my first week back after the holidays. Here's a few links I managed to pick up this week between catching up on e-mail and work.

Cloud

• Get better acquainted with Windows Azure: A collection of links for learning more about Windows Azure.

• Windows Azure network security whitepaper: For anyone using Windows Azure networking.

• Windows Azure Web Sites (WAWS) and intermediate certificates: For anyone having problems getting SSL with intermediate certs working on Windows Azure Web Sites.

Client/Mobile

• Best of JavaScript, HTML & CSS for 2013: A list of some highlights from last year.

• Building Simon Says with JavaScript: Going to show this one to my nieces and see if I can get them interested in programming.

• Cordova/PhoneGap Tutorial: A new tutorial on using Cordova.

• How to use cross browser web fonts, Part 1: And part 2 is now available.

• Use the network information API to improve responsive websites: Only FireFox and Chrome have experimental support for this currently, but it seems to be a useful thing to me if bandwidth is a concern.

• Alpaca: Given an API (as JSON,) alpaca can generate client libraries in Node, PHP, Python, or Ruby.

• How's my SSL?: Check your browser's SSL configuration.

JavaScript

• Sublime Web Inspector: Debug JavaScript from Sublime Text.

• Stop writing JavaScript compilers. Make macros instead!: A discussion of why you should be using macros, with examples using the sweet.js library.

Node.js

• Node v0.10.24: A new version of Node.js came out while I was on vacation.

• koa.js: Koa is a promising new web framework from the folks that created Express. One of the aims of the framework is to eliminate callback hell by using generators. Since generators isn't in the stable branch of Node.js yet, you'll need Node 0.11.9 or higher, and the node command has to be invoked with the --harmony flag to enable ES6 bits (generators.)

• node-tumblr: A Node.js wrapper for the Tumbler API.

Ruby

• Gemsurance: Checks if you are using out of date or vulnerable gems.

• The (silver) bullet for the n+1 problem: Optimizing database queries.

Misc.

• Improving our SSL setup: GitHub talks about how they improved their SSL security.

• Gulp, Grunt, whatever: An introduction to Gulp and comparisons to Grunt.

• Coffeeshop: A virtual coffeeshop experience, so you can socialize with others without having to change out of your pajamas, leave your house, or drink their terrible coffee.

Enjoy!

- Larry