The story of XMLHTTP. Alex Hopmann’s story, getting IE5 to add HTTP support into its XML library. And the rest is history. (Via Ajaxian)
A function of simplicity. “Imperative programming is sometimes reminiscent of a Rube Goldberg machine. Both require meticulous thought to ensure that a process works correctly despite a myriad of state transitions and interdependencies. It is amazing these complicated programs work at all.” Wesdyer explains the benefits of functional programming.
BetterCode for BigCo. “Convincing a set of established “Enterprisy†engineers that Rails is worth paying attention to it is like convincing a Texas oil baron that he should purchase a Subcompact hybrid vehicle and become a Vegan.” Is it really that hard? Timothy M. O’Brien gives some answers in Bringing Rails to the Enterprise. (Via Jeremy McAnally)
The future of phones. Nokia has some amazing design concepts, most interestingly dropping “legacy” input devices in favor of bigger screens and gestures. (Via tnkgirl)
Apropos tnkgirl. In her world, it’s just another day of a) walking around with two cell phones, one in each pocket; b) watching TV on the OQO, bluetoothed to the cellphone, pulling it over EDGE from the SlingBox at home; c) developing your own set-top box. And she blogs about that stuff.
tnkgrl