Graceful Exits

In previous posts (part 1, part 2) I established the possibility that there were advantages to making Javascript more functional, to bring it in line with CSS and XSL. I didn’t say what these were, particularly, but I then provided a few bits and pieces on top of jQuery to make Javascript just that: functional [...]

If you’re here, then you probably came from here, and you want to make Javascript more functional. If you didn’t come from there—and this is getting a bit like a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure book, isn’t it?—then you might want to go there first, to see if you want to be here.
So: functional Javascript. Not just functional, but [...]

There are three main technologies that your browser employs to present HTML for you: XSL, CSS and Javascript. The first two of these are functional: that is, they turn your incoming (X)HTML documents into a set of functions, or behaviours if you like. Because CSS isn’t generally considered a language, let alone a functional one, [...]

‘Tis the season to remove yourself from mailing lists if you’re subscribed from your work address. And there’s only so much good will to go round, until it’s completely soaked up by people asking lists with automated (un)subscription procedures to “unsubscibe” them, please, right now. It’s even harder to deal with those who ask thousands [...]

After several administrative steps over a few months, we suddenly found the following error coming from an instance of SQL Server on a virtual machine:

Your SQL Server installation is either corrupt or has been tampered with (unable to load SQLBOOT.DLL). Please uninstall them re-run setup to correct this problem.

Nobody had been keeping an eye [...]

Stones and Bones is being produced this weekend. Want a copy? Be quick and stick your details down here. I’ll print extras, of course, but only up to a round number.
Here’s a preview, with an excerpt from each story. The final lineup is largely unchanged from the table of contents agreed previously, although titles have [...]

I’m so impressed with Radiohead. I was a fan back in the days of The Bends (y’know: before they literally, if not metaphorically, sold out), and have more affection for Pablohoney than most. But in an era when it’s trivial to get whatever music you want for free off your mate who happened to buy [...]

Incidentally, I currently have very little network at home. Eclipse managed to transfer my broadband fine during the house move, and then cancel both my old and new packages simultaneously at the point the old house’s contract expired (December 4). Oddly, although pulling the plug took but a second, reconnecting can take five working days. [...]

As the natural extension of Gareth Rushgrove’s bookmarklets for inserting the Dojo or YUI Javascript toolkits mentioned by Simon, here’s a tidying-up of a bookmarklet I’ve been using to bring in any Javascript using user input via a popup prompt:
Insert-JS bookmarklet

javascript:void(function(){
  var%20s=document.createElement("script");
  s.src=prompt("Full%20URL:");
  document.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(s);
}())

I was originally appending it to the body as an invisible div, making use of [...]

Agh! The fourth Oxford Geek Night is tomorrow: here’s a list of speakers. It looks like it’s going to be a darn good evening for everyone, and hopefully I can relax for long enough to enjoy it myself.
As usual we’ve managed to get a good mix of talks, with discussion of the society-changing work behind [...]