“HTML5 Enterprise Application Development” Review

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HTML5-Enterprise-Application-DevelopmentIf there is a technology appeared recently that has received a great interest from application developers and therefore, is changing the way we develop applications, this is definitely HTML5.

More and more developers are convinced that it’s possible to create cross-platform applications with similar performance to native. I’ll not go in the controversial comparison between navite vs hybrid vs HTML5 applications because there are great articles on this topic. Eg:

HTML5 vs. Native vs. Hybrid. Global developer survey 2013 results are in

The Making of Fastbook: An HTML5 Love Story

I’m going to write about the latest Packt Publishing book that I readed: HTML5 Enterprise Application Development, which shows the creation process of an HTML5 application multiplatform and multidevice. Continue reading →

“JavaScript Unit Testing” Review

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JavaScript Unit TestingI suppose at least in a generic way you know what is unit testing, but to sum it up in a few words, according to Wikipedia:

Unit testing is a method by which individual units of source code, sets of one or more computer program modules together with associated control data, usage procedures, and operating procedures, are tested to determine if they are fit for use.

By starting an application development, when it has relatively few lines of code all fits perfectly, but later when you want to add, modify, or delete certain functionality, this can become a big problem since when changing anything probably you will be breaking a few by the way.

Thanks to unit testing you can modify any module in your code, launch the tests, check failures, correct, and ready. Everything will still work in a clean, quick, and tidy way. Continue reading →

“Learning Highcharts” Review

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Learning HighchartsYou may probably have used, or will know at least, some library to create charts, because is the most pleasant way to display numerical data information, something that is very common.

If so, It’s quite probably that you know Highcharts, but if anyone is confused I’ll say that it’s a JavaScript library to create (almost) any chart type. It’s so huge that a 332 pages book can be completed, a book that I’ll write some lines.

As usual I’ll do a summary of each chapter and finally, I’ll give my opinion:

Chapter 1: Web Charts

To start you’ll see a short summary of the HTML elements used for chart generation (SVG and canvas) and other JS libraries like jqPlot, amCharts, Ext JS 4 Charts, YUI 3 Charts, FusionCharts, etc. Continue reading →

“HTML5 Graphing and Data Visualization Cookbook” Review

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HTML5 Graphing and Data Visualization CookbookOne of the HTML5 most relevant new features which is causing more interest to the developers community is the canvas element, and it’s no wonder as it allows to generate dynamic graphics using JavaScript, both static graphics and animations.

It’s true that since 2001 we have SVG to perform similar tasks, but the SVG and canvas goal is different: SVG creates vector elements, while canvas generates bitmap images.

This book entitled HTML5 Graphing and Data Visualization Cookbook teaches you how to use the canvas element to create several graphics, but that is not all, also to create animations and interactivities. The goal is ambitious, so let’s review the book chapter by chapter to see if it’s successful: Continue reading →

“WordPress Mobile Web Development” Review

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WordPress Mobile Web DevelopmentWe live at a time when it’s essential to make our websites or web apps accessible from several different types of devices: desktop computers with big screens, smartphones with small touchscreens, tablets, netbooks, televisions, consoles, etc.

As a result, starting in the web development world is becoming more difficult for newbies. This book tries to make that path easier by doing a thorough explanation of all steps to be followed to make our websites or web apps more accessible.

Going further into details on the book’s contents, it has to be stressed that is focused to newbies, but to make the most of it is highly recommended to have experience with CSS. PHP isn’t essential, although it helps. Nor is it necessary experience with WordPress, but if you’ve used before you will feel more comfortable following explanations.

This book is part of the series Learn by doing by Packt Publishing, which means that it’s eminently practical. It’s advisable to read it in front of your computer and write, modify and experiment with the code you will find that is abundant. Continue reading →

“Node Cookbook” Review

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Node CookbookThis time I’m going to write a review of the new book published by Packt Publishing on node.js, but covers many more issues about node and server-side JavaScript, from the basic server creation and configuration to deployment in the production server, including the Express framework, testing, basic application security, node’s npm modules, and monitoring the final application.

Before starting the review, I must say that I have not read the book in depth. I have one week with it, but I feel that is enough time to write my opinion.

Chapter 1: Making a Web Server

Here you have the most basic articles (or recipes): making a web server, simple routing, serving static files, caching, performance and a little about security. It’s a good introduction for the rest of the book.

Chapter 2: Exploring the HTTP Object

This chapter goes far away with HTTP communications: managing POST data, file uploads and downloads (with resume), and using node as an HTTP client. All focused on web development. Nice. Continue reading →