Tuesday, May 03, 2016

Od -- it's like Mithril and Knockout, but better

I've loved using Knockout these last few years, but struggled with its unpredictable performance.  I really like the idea of Mithril (and the other virtual-DOM schemes), but it has really wonky problems if you move a component around in your DOM.

To address these issues, I recently came up with my own scheme, Od, and I really like it:

https://github.com/ralphbecket/Web/tree/master/Od

The web site there has plenty of explanation, examples, and documentation.
TypeScript, the beautiful face of the ugly tapeworm that is JavaScript.  It's the only way to do this stuff.

To add a TypeScript component to a non-TypeScript Visual Studio project, add the following to the end of the project .csproj file (do this in notepad or somesuch; adjust the TypeScript path version accordingly):

Reload the project and away you go.  When you add TypeScript files to your project, you can set their BuildAction properties to TypeScriptCompile, if this doesn't happen automatically.

Friday, March 18, 2016

On Python (vulgar, but funny)

https://semitwist.com/articles/article/view/why-i-hate-python-or-any-dynamic-language-really

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Wonderful explanation of quantum weirdness

A discussion on the excellent Quora site led me to this series of articles explaining the mysteries of quantum mechanics at a level comprehensible by an armchair physicist or even myself.  No hand-waving, nothing above some basic arithmetic with complex numbers, perspicuous and concise.

While on the topic, I'll take the opportunity to plug Introducing Quantum Theory which tells the tale of how physics moved from classical to quantum theory.  There's no mathematics in the book, instead it tells the story of all the things that didn't quite make sense along the way and how Dirac, Schroedinger, Einstein, and the rest of the gang arrived at the new model.  Don't be put off by the cartoonesque presentation: it is a book for grown-ups.  I've bought it three times so far, having loaned it out twice and not had it returned...