JavaScript Patterns

Being a client side language usually heavily tied to the UI, JavaScript code sometimes suffers from a lack of core programming concepts that can make the code hard to reuse and maintain. Here are a few patterns that can help:

Prototype

Benefits include:

• Variables taken out of global namespace
• Methods loaded once into memory and reused by each instance
• Methods can be overridden by developers using your code

Module

Benefits include:

• Variables taken out of global namespace
• Public and private members

Cons:

• Methods get loaded into memory for each instance
• Not easy to override methods
• Debugging can be trickier as private members can be hidden

And the winner is… Revealing Prototype

Benefits include:

• Variables taken out of global namespace
• Public and private members
• Easy to override methods

Silverlight 5 RTM

It took a while but Silverlight 5 is finally here: http://www.silverlight.net/downloads

 

New features

Building next-generation business applications

· PivotViewer -- now included in SDK. Adds support for dynamic client-based collections, XAML-based visuals, and customizability.

· ClickCount: Add support for multi-click to your application

· Listbox/ComboBox type-ahead text searching: Listboxes and ComboBoxes can now scroll based on text input

· Ancestor RelativeSource Binding: Bind to a property on a parent control

· Implicit DataTemplates: Allow DataTemplates to be defined implicitly

· DataContextChanged event

· Added PropertyChanged to the UpdateSourceTrigger enum

· Save File and Open File Dialog: Specify a default filename when you launch your SaveFileDialog and specify a default directory when you launch your OpenFileDialog

· Databinding Debugging: Set a breakpoint directly in XAML, examine locals, and debug your bindings

· Custom Markup Extensions: Execute custom code at XAML parse time

· Binding on Style Setters: You can now specify a binding within a style

Improved Text support

· Text Tracking & Leading: Exercise fine-grained control over the spacing between characters and lines in your text

· Linked Text Containers: Create linked RichTextBlocks that allow text to flow seamlessly from one to the next

· OpenType and Pixel Snapped Text : Improved text clarity

· Postscript vector printing: reduces the size of print jobs and improves rendering quality of text

· Performance improvements for Block Layout Engine.

Silverlight 5 performance improvements

· Parser Performance Improvements: Improved XAML parse times for UserControls & ResourceDictionaries

· Network Latency Improvements: Significant performance improvement in ClientHttpWebRequest scenarios

· H/W accelerated rendering in IE9 windowless mode: Silverlight now uses the new SurfacePresenter APIs for H/W accelerated rendering in IE9 windowless mode

· Multicore JIT: Shortens the start-up time for Silverlight apps

· 64-bit browser support

 

Graphics improvements

· Improved Graphics stack: The graphics stack has been re-architected to add features such as Independent Animations

· 3D: Use the XNA API on the Windows platform to gain low-level access to the GPU and draw vertex shaders and low-level 3D primitives. Includes Render targets, XNA built-in effects, surface composition settings for depth/stencil buffers and multi-sample anti-aliasing

 

Silverlight 5 extends features of the "Trusted Application" model

Silverlight 5 extends features of the ‘Trusted Application’ model to the browser for the first time. These features, when enabled via a group policy registry key and an application certificate, mean users won’t need to leave the browser to perform complex tasks:

· Multiple window support: Launch multiple top-level windows inside a SL OOB application

· Full-Trust in-browser: Using Group Policy, deploy signed in-browser applications that harness the full power of full-trust functionality

· In-browser HTML support: Host your WebOC within an in-browser SL application

· Unrestricted File System Access: Read from and write to any directory on your system, from a full-trust application

· P/Invoke support : Allows existing native code to be run directly from Silverlight

 

Tools improvements

• Visual Studio Team Test support.

Improved media support

· Low Latency Audio Playback: Use the SoundEffect API to trigger low-latency sound

· Variable Speed Playback: allows video to be played at different speeds and supports fast-forward and rewind. At up to twice the speed, audio pitch correction allows users to watch videos while preserving a normal audio pitch.

· H/W Decode of H.264 media: Significant performance improvements with H.264 media decoding of unprotected content

· DRM Key Rotation/LiveTV Playback: Long-running live TV playback protected through the use of rotating licenses

· Application-Restricted Media: Prevents playback of protected content in unauthorized applications

Top 100 fonts

Based on a German website, these are the top 100 best fonts of all time.

Top 100 Best Fonts Of All Time

Below you will find the full list of the best 100 fonts along with the designer & the year in which they were designed.

1. Helvetica [1957 - Max Miedinger]

2. Garamond [1530 - Claude Garamond]

3. Frutiger [1977 - Adrian Frutiger]

4. Bodoni [1790 - Giambattista Bodoni]

5. Futura [1927 - Paul Renner]

6. Times [1931 - Stanley Morison]

7. Akzidenz Grotesk [1966 - G nter Gerhard Lange]

8. Officina [1990 - Erik Spiekermann]

9. Gill Sans [1930 - Eric Gill]

10. Univers [1954 - Adrian Frutiger]

11. Optima [1954 - Hermann Zapf]

12. Franklin Gothic [1903 - Morris Fuller Benton]

13. Bembo [1496 - Francesco Griffo]

14. Interstate [1993 - Tobias Frere-Jones]

15. Thesis [1994 - Lucas de Groot]

16. Rockwell [1934 - Frank H. Pierpont]

17. Walbaum [1800 - Justus Walbaum]

18. Meta [1991 - Erik Spiekermann]

19. Trinit [1982 - Bram De Does]

20. Din [1926 - Ludwig Goller]

21. Matrix [1986 - Zuzana Licko]

22. OCR [1965 - American Type Founders]

23. Avant Garde [1968 - Herb Lubalin]

24. Lucida [1985 - Chris Holmes / Charles Bigelow]

25. Sabon [1964 - Jan Tschichold]

26. Zapfino [1998 - Hermann Zapf]

27. Letter Gothic [1956 - Roger Roberson]

28. Stone [1987 - Summer Stone]

29. Arnhem [1998 - Fred Smeijers]

30. Minion [1990 - Robert Slimbach]

31. Myriad [1992 - Twombly & Slimbach]

32. Rotis [1988 - Olt Aicher]

33. Eurostile [1962 - Aldo Novarese]

34. Scala [1991 - Martin Majoor]

35. Syntax [1968 - Hans Eduard Meier]

36. Joanna [1930 - Eric Gill]

37. Fleishmann [1997 - Erhard Kaiser]

38. Palatino [1950 - Hermann Zapf]

39. Baskerville [1754 - John Baskerville]

40. Fedra [2002 - Peter Bil'ak]

41. Gotham [2000 - Tobias Frere-Jones]

42. Lexicon [1992 - Bram De Does]

43. Hands [1991 - Letterror]

44. Metro [1929 - W. A. Dwiggins]

45. Didot [1799 - Firmin Didot]

46. Formata [1984 - Bernd M llenst dt]

47. Caslon [1725 - William Caslon]

48. Cooper Black [1920 - Oswald B. Cooper]

49. Peignot [1937 - A. M. Cassandre]

50. Bell Gothic [1938 - Chauncey H. Griffith]

51. Antique Olive [1962 - Roger Excoffon]

52. Wilhelm Klngspor Gotisch [1926 - Rudolf Koch]

53. Info [1996 - Erik Spiekermann]

54. Dax [1995 - Hans Reichel]

55. Proforma [1988 - Petr van Blokland]

56. Today Sans [1988 - Volker K ster]

57. Prokyon [2002 - Erhard Kaiser]

58. Trade Gothic [1948 - Jackson Burke]

59. Swift [1987 - Gerald Unger]

60. Copperplate Gothic [1901 - Frederic W. Goudy]

61. Blur [1992 - Neville Brody]

62. Base [1995 - Zuzana Licko]

63. Bell Centennial [1978 - Matthew Carter]

64. News Gothic [1908 - Morris Fuller Benton]

65. Avenir [1988 - Adrian Frutiger]

66. Bernhard Modern [1937 - Lucian Bernhard]

67. Amplitude [2003 - Christian Schwartz]

68. Trixie [1991 - Erik van Blokland]

69. Quadraat [1992 - Fred Smeijers]

70. Neutraface [2002 - Christian Schwartz]

71. Nobel [1929 - Sjoerd de Roos]

72. Industria [1990 - Neville Brody]

73. Bickham Script [1997 - Richard Lipton]

74. Bank Gothic [1930 - Morris Fuller Benton]

75. Corporate ASE [1989 - Kurt Weidemann]

76. Fago [2000 - Ole Schafer]

77. Trajan [1989 - Carol Twombly]

78. Kabel [1927 - Rudolf Koch]

79. House Gothic 23 [1995 - Tal Leming]

80. Kosmik [1993 - Letterror]

81. Caecilia [1990 - Peter Matthias Noordzij]

82. Mrs Eaves [1996 - Zuzana Licko]

83. Corpid [1997 - Lucas de Groot]

84. Miller [1997 - Matthew Carter]

85. Souvenir [1914 - Morris Fuller Benton]

86. Instant Types [1992 - Just van Rossum]

87. Clarendon [1845 - Benjamin Fox]

88. Triplex [1989 - Zuzana Licko]

89. Benguiat [1989 - Ed Benguiat]

90. Zapf Renaissance [1984 - Hermann Zapf]

91. Filosofia [1996 - Zuzana Licko]

92. Chalet [1996 - House Industries]

93. Quay Sans [1990 - David Quay]

94. C zanne [1995 - Michael Want, James Grieshaber]

95. Reporter [1938 - Carlos Winkow]

96. Legacy [1992 - Ronald Arnholm]

97. Agenda [1993 - Greg Thompson]

98. Bello [2004 - Underware]

99. Dalliance [2000 - Frank Heine]

100. Mistral [1953 - Roger Excoffon]