Ajaxus place on the net

qooxdoo is a comprehensive and innovative Ajax application framework. Leveraging object-oriented JavaScript allows developers to build impressive cross-browser applications. No HTML, CSS nor DOM knowledge is needed. qooxdoo includes a platform-independent development tool chain, a state-of-the-art GUI toolkit and an advanced client-server communication layer. It is Open Source under an LGPL/EPL dual license.

Besides the many bugfixes, there are a few new features to mention:

* Cross-browser logging features based on Firebug Lite
* A source-code validation utility similar to JSLint, executed by a simple “make lint”
* Re-worked feedreader to demonstrate best practices for application development
* Early preview of the next-generation build tool generator2.

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On the 2nd anniversary of jQuery’s release there is a brand new release. This is primarily a bug fix release for jQuery 1.2.

Primarily, this has been a bug fix and optimization release. They landed over 120 bug fixes and our test suite now has over 1157 tests in it!

300% Speed Improvements to $(DOMElement)

Here’s a quick peak at some of the speed jumps that you can expect in all the major browsers:
Browser 1.2.1 (ms) 1.2.2 (ms)
Firefox 2 0.041 0.015
Firefox 3 0.033 0.01
Safari 3 0.017 0.005
Opera 9 0.023 0.004
Internet Explorer 6 0.04 0.03

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I love reading great articles! The one I am posting today is simply deep and marvelous! Its written by the well known Jeff Prosise and is included in the last issue of MSDN Magazine.
In this article Jeff explains how to use drag and drop using ASP.NET Ajax Extensions with new Visual Studio. Here is a small part of it, at the end there is a link to the whole article:

AJAX has revolutionized Web user interfaces, and ASP.NET AJAX has made AJAX available to the Visual Studio® users. It comes in three separate downloads: ASP.NET AJAX Extensions (asp.net/ajax/downloads), which provides the core, fully tested set of AJAX functionality; ASP.NET AJAX Futures (asp.net/downloads/futures), which contains experimental features on which the product group wants feedback; and the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit (asp.net/ajax/ajaxcontroltoolkit/samples), which provides a grab bag of AJAX controls as well as an SDK for building controls of your own.

Of the three, the Futures release has garnered the least attention from the developer community. That’s unfortunate because, more than providing a glimpse into what future versions of ASP.NET AJAX might look like, the Futures Community Technology Preview (CTP) is chock full of features that can be used to build cutting-edge Web apps today. A case in point is drag-and-drop.

Hidden away inside the Futures PreviewDragDrop.js file lies support for rich, browser-based drag-and-drop user interfaces. The model it uses is patterned after the old OLE drag-drop model, in which drag sources implement the IDragSource interface, drop targets implement the IDropTarget interface, and the system provides a drag-drop manager to connect drag sources to drop targets. The Futures drag-drop manager is an instance of a JavaScript class named Sys.Preview.UI._DragDropManager, which is automatically instantiated and made available through a global variable named Sys.Preview.UI.DragDropManager.

For months now, I’ve been meaning to write a sample showing how to use PreviewDragDrop.js to implement real drag-drop, featuring custom drag sourcing and custom drop targeting. I finally got around to it, and the results are pretty cool. I learned quite a lot about DragDropManager in the process, including how to enhance it by adding support for custom drag visuals. Once you’re familiar with the model (and comfortable with the concept of deriving classes and implementing interfaces in JavaScript), DragDropManager opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Web UIs.
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This one I found today, it was published on 18th of Dec by Tony Davis on http://www.simple-talk.com. Its quite interesting post I loved reading it.
Here is a short brief:
Visual Basic v9 appeared on November 19. In the past, the new release of Microsoft’s longest-running language might have caused a stir, but it was part of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 and there were plenty of other distractions. The changes to VB itself were pretty minor: The ‘Inline IF’ was finally retired in favour of a true ternary IF. We got support for LINQ, Lambda expressions like those of Python, support for XML Literals, and Type Inference. Hopefully, the real changes to the language will come with Visual Basic v10, which will use the Dynamic Language Runtime, and benefit from experience gained in the development of IronPython. It is set to be released with Silverlight 2 as ‘Dynamic Visual Basic’. In the meantime C# continues to increase its dominance in the .NET world. Poor JScript.NET seems to be in terminal decline despite its high quality, though it is, like VB, promised a DLR makeover for SilverLight, and is likely to be renamed ‘Managed JScript’.

For .NET scripting, things already look a lot livelier, thanks in part to the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR). IronPython and PowerShell have, in the past year, found good solid niches, thanks to their effortless access to the CLR and, in the case of IronPython, excellent tutorials and good compatibility with existing Python code. We all hoped for more with IronRuby, which now seems to be stuck in a pre-alpha limbo due more to legal than technical problems. This is disappointing for those of us who liked some of the ideas in Ruby on Rails. While we wait for Ruby, there is Boo and Nemerle to play with.
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