Microsoft Expression Web, a free and easy tool for web development

Microsoft Expression Web 4 (Free Version)

Expression Web 4 gives you the tools you need to produce high-quality, standards-based Web sites: built-in support for today’s Web standards, sophisticated CSS design capabilities, and visual diagnostic tools. Whether you work with PHP, HTML/XHTML, CSS, JavaScript, ASP.NET or ASP.NET AJAX, Expression Web makes it faster and easier to create and maintain exceptional web sites.

Download Microsoft Expression Web 4 (Free Version)

Ubuntu 13.10 Released

Ubuntu 13.10 - What's New & Improved


Visit: http://www.ubuntu.com/

Javascript and Web Performance

Colt McAnlis talks about the differences between minifaction and compression, and image solutions for web developers.

Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.3 Now Available with Multi-Touch Support

Oracle VM VirtualBox 4.3 now available, introduces a virtual multi-touch user interface, supports additional devices and platforms, and provides enhanced networking capabilities enabling developers to virtualize modern post-PC era operating system features while maintaining compatibility with legacy operating systems.

TO know what's new in VirtualBox 4.3 from Oracle Blog.

Free eBook online: The Architecture of Open Source Applications and The Performance of Open Source Applications

The Performance of Open Source Applications

• Introduction
• 1. High Performance Networking in Chrome
• 2. From SocialCalc to EtherCalc
• 3. Ninja
• 4. Parsing XML at the Speed of Light
• 5. MemShrink
• 6. Applying Optimization Principle Patterns to Component Deployment and Configuration Tools
• 7. Infinispan
• 8. Talos
• 9. Zotonic
• 10. Secrets of Mobile Network Performance
• 11. Warp
• 12. Working with Big Data in Bioinformatics

 The Architecture of Open Source Applications

• Introduction
• 1. Asterisk
• 2. Audacity
• 3. The Bourne-Again Shell
• 4. Berkeley DB
• 5. CMake
• 6. Eclipse
• 7. Graphite
• 8. The Hadoop Distributed File System
• 9. Continuous Integration
• 10. Jitsi
• 11. LLVM
• 12. Mercurial
• 13. The NoSQL Ecosystem
• 14. Python Packaging
• 15. Riak and Erlang/OTP
• 16. Selenium WebDriver
• 17. Sendmail
• 18. SnowFlock
• 19. SocialCalc
• 20. Telepathy
• 21. Thousand Parsec
• 22. Violet
• 23. VisTrails
• 24. VTK
• 25. Battle For Wesnoth
• Bibliography

The Architecture of Open Source Applications Volumn II

• Introduction
• 1. Scalable Web Architecture and Distributed Systems
• 2. Firefox Release Engineering
• 3. FreeRTOS
• 4. GDB
• 5. The Glasgow Haskell Compiler
• 6. Git
• 7. GPSD
• 8. The Dynamic Language Runtime and the Iron Languages
• 9. ITK
• 10. GNU Mailman
• 11. matplotlib
• 12. MediaWiki
• 13. Moodle
• 14. nginx
• 15. Open MPI
• 16. OSCAR
• 17. Processing.js
• 18. Puppet
• 19. PyPy
• 20. SQLAlchemy
• 21. Twisted
• 22. Yesod
• 23. Yocto
• 24. ZeroMQ
• Bibliography

Link: http://aosabook.org/

O'Reilly Open Books

About Open Books

WolfO'Reilly has published a number of Open Books--books with various forms of "open" copyright--over the years. The reasons for "opening" copyright, as well as the specific license agreements under which they are opened, are as varied as our authors.

Perhaps a book was outdated enough to be put out of print, yet some people still needed the information it covered. Or the author or subject of a book felt strongly that it should be published under a particular open copyright. Maybe the book was written collectively by a particular community, as in the case of our Community Press books.

But there's more to making Open Books available online than simply adopting an open license or giving up rights granted under copyright law. The print books need to be converted to a digital format so that they're accessible via the web.

We're happy to have partnered with two innovative nonprofits, Creative Commons and the Internet Archive, to solve the licensing and digitizing challenges involved in bringing Open Books to readers.

While the books listed here use various open licenses, since 2003 we've focused on using the licenses created by Creative Commons. O'Reilly has adopted the Creative Commons Founders' Copyright, which we're applying to hundreds of out-of-print and current titles, pending author approval.

Through its Open Library project, the Internet Archive is scanning and hosting PDF versions of our open books. We posted the first book, the original edition of The Whole Internet User's Guide & Catalog in October of 2005, as part of the launch of the Open Content Alliance (we and the Internet Archive are among the founding members of the alliance).

We're pleased to keep these books alive and grateful to our nonprofit partners for their contribution. Please consider donating to Creative Commons and the Internet Archive--they're doing important work to enrich the public good.

http://oreilly.com/openbook/

Mobile Web Best Practices

The document "Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0" of W3C Recommendation specifies Best Practices for delivering Web content to mobile devices. The principal objective is to improve the user experience of the Web when accessed from such devices.

The recommendations refer to delivered content and not to the processes by which it is created, nor to the devices or user agents to which it is delivered.

It is primarily directed at creators, maintainers and operators of Web sites. Readers of this document are expected to be familiar with the creation of Web sites, and to have a general familiarity with the technologies involved, such as Web servers and HTTP. Readers are not expected to have a background in mobile-specific technologies.

Visit: http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-mobile-bp-20080729/

Mobile Web Best Practices 1.0

Getting started with the Google Maps SDK for iOS

This is a three part series to introduce the Google Maps SDK for iOS.

The series covers:
1) Setting up your development environment
2) Getting and testing an API key
3) Creating your first application

HTML5 iPhone Web Application Development

HTML5 iPhone Web Application Development

HTML5 iPhone Web Application Development

An introduction to web-application development for mobile within the iOS Safari browser with this book and ebook

Overview

• Simple and complex problems will be covered with examples and resources that backup the approach and technique.
• Real world solutions that are broken down for multiple target audiences; from beginner developers to technical architects.
• Learn to build true web applications using the latest industry standards for iOS Safari.

In Detail

Create compelling web applications specifically tailored for distribution on iOS Safari. Work through real world examples with references, and in-depth discussions on the approach; including its benefits and drawbacks.

"HTML5 iPhone Web Application Development" strives to teach all levels of developers, beginners and professionals, the process of creating web applications for iOS Safari. Utilizing current industry standards for frontend development, learn to take advantage of HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript to create compelling software.

Start with reviewing current industry standards for frontend development, and end with creating a native application using the same codebase.

Your journey will begin with an overview of current industry standards for frontend technology, quickly moving to solve real world issues; from creating a resizable or responsive gallery, to creating a single page application that utilizes the popular Backbone.js framework.

"HTML5 iPhone Web Application Development" aims to make you an expert in developing web applications for the iOS Safari platform.

What you will learn from this book

• Explore exciting HTML5 features such as Geolocation and localStorage
• Responsive design implementation
• Native application development using PhoneGap
• Get to grips with current industry standards
• Develop touch-based interactivity
• Learn about Safari specific UI enhancements
• Find solutions to every day real world problems

Approach

Presented in an easy to follow, step by step tutorial format, this is your guide to web application development for the iOS Safari

Who this book is written for

This book was meant for you! From the beginner developer to chief technology officer, this book aims to make you an expert in the field of web application development for iOS Safari. Familiarity with HTML, CSS and JavaScript are greatly encouraged but if you’re looking to dive right in and find solutions to everyday problems and more, then this book is for you.

Simulate Touch events on Google Chrome Desktop

To simulate Touch Events on Google Chrome Desktop:

Open Developer Tools by clicking on Chrom's Menu, select Tools, Developer Tools.

Click on the Setup icon.

Select Overrides Settings, scroll down to enable Emulate touch events.

Firefox OS Demo

Firefox OS Demo
Find out more: www.mozilla.com/firefoxos

Hello World! for Firefox OS WebApps

To build a simple Hello World run on Firefox OS:

Hello World run on Firefox OS Emulator

• Create a working directory to hold your source code.
• Create a HTML file, named index.html, in the working directory.
  

  <html>
  <header>
   <title>Mobile-Web-App</title>
  </header>
  <body>
   <p>Hello! from <a href="http://mobile-web-app.blogspot.com/">Mobile-Web-App</a>.
  </body>
  </html>
  

• Create another file, "manifest.webapp".
  

  { "name": "Hello Firefox OS",
   "description": "Hello from Mobile-Web-App",
   "launch_path": "/index.html"
  }
  

Run with Firefox OS Simulator on desktop: start Firefox browser, start Firefox OS Simulator by Tools from Firefox menu -> Web Developer -> Firefox OS Simulator.

Click on Add Directory button, browse to select your manifest.webapp. The Emulator will start and load your WebApp.

Alternative, you can click the Simulator Stopped if it is not yet started. Then click Connect button.

Firefox OS Simulator

Firefox OS Simulator is a test environment for Firefox OS. Use it to test your apps in a Firefox OS-like environment that looks and feels like a mobile phone. After installing it, go to Web Developer > Firefox OS Simulator to access its features.

Visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/firefox-os-simulator/ using Firefox Browser to install Firefox OS Simulator Extension.

After installed, you can open Firefox OS Simulator Dashboard by selecting Tools from Firefox menu -> Web Developer -> Firefox OS Simulator.

Firefox OS Simulator Dashboard

Next: Hello World! for Firefox OS WebApps

Obtaining a simple API key for use with the YouTube API

Obtaining a simple API key for use with the YouTube API

This tutorial demonstrates how to create a project in the Google API console and enable the YouTube Data and Analytics APIs for use with the YouTube API sample code. This tutorial covers creating a Simple API key.

This is a shorter version of another tutorial, "Obtaining a developer key for use with the YouTube Data and Analytics API", which includes instructions on setting up an OAuth 2.0 client ID and secret. That video can be found here: http://youtu.be/Im69kzhpR3I.

Real World Windows 8 App Development with JavaScript: Create Great Windows Store Apps

Real World Windows 8 App Development with JavaScript offers you practical advice and hard-earned insights that will help you create and publish apps to a worldwide market.

Led by authors with deep Windows 8 app development experience, you’ll learn how to make the most of Microsoft’s APIs for hooking into Windows 8 on all devices, including the core ideas of promises and the asynchronous programming model. You’ll also discover such important tips as how to
- Adhere to Windows 8 guidelines for successful app acceptance
- Extend the appeal of your app with media, contracts, charms, and user notifications
- Capture and work with media, including the ability to play video wirelessly to a television
- Manage background processing and file transfers
- Gain visibility for your app and add monetization optionsReal World Windows 8 App

Development with JavaScript features real-world examples that emphasize the use of JavaScript and HTML 5 and that also adhere to the stylistic guidelines Microsoft has put in place to maintain a consistent look and feel for all applications on this platform.

Get the low-down from authors with experience from the front lines of Windows 8 app development. Theory is all well and good, but when it comes down to it, you can’t beat practical advice from people who’ve been there and done it! You’ll come away from this book with all the tools, ideas, and inspiration you need to create successful Windows 8 JavaScript apps.

What you’ll learn

• The fundamentals of the asynchronous programming model
• Integrating your app with the Windows 8 system
• Working with and capturing media
• Extending your app with contracts and charms
• Giving users notifications
• Monetization and certification

Who this book is for

This book is for JavaScript developers wanting to create applications for sale in the Windows 8 app store. Developers should have a good knowledge of HTML5 and JavaScript, but no previous Windows 8 app development knowledge is required.

Table of Contents

1. The Windows 8 Ethos and Environment
2. Getting the Basics Right
3. Incorporating Layout and Controls
4. Navigating the Media Maze
5. Making the Most Out of Charms and Contracts
6. Solving the Printing Problem 
7. Providing Clear Notifications
8. Keeping Apps Running the the Background
9. Monetizing Your App: The Lowdown 
10. Getting your App on the Windows Store

The Future of C++

This talk will give an update on recent progress and near-future directions for C++, both at Microsoft and across the industry, with some announcements of interest in both areas. The speaker is the lead language architect of Visual C++ and chair of the ISO C++ committee.

Free online: Learning JavaScript Design Patterns

Learning JavaScript Design Patterns

Learning JavaScript Design Patterns is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 unported license. It is available for purchase via O'Reilly Media but will remain available for both free online and as a physical (or eBook) purchase for readers wishing to support the project.

Link: http://addyosmani.com/resources/essentialjsdesignpatterns/book/

Table Of Contents

• Introduction
• What is a Pattern?
• "Pattern"-ity Testing, Proto-Patterns & The Rule Of Three
• The Structure Of A Design Pattern
• Writing Design Patterns
• Anti-Patterns
• Categories Of Design Pattern
• Summary Table Of Design Pattern Categorization
• JavaScript Design Patterns
  • Constructor Pattern
  • Module Pattern
  • Revealing Module Pattern
  • Singleton Pattern
  • Observer Pattern
  • Mediator Pattern
  • Prototype Pattern
  • Command Pattern
  • Facade Pattern
  • Factory Pattern
  • Mixin Pattern
  • Decorator Pattern
  • Flyweight Pattern
• JavaScript MV* Patterns
  • MVC Pattern
  • MVP Pattern
  • MVVM Pattern
• Modern Modular JavaScript Design Patterns
  • AMD
  • CommonJS
  • ES Harmony
• Design Patterns In jQuery
  • Composite Pattern
  • Adapter Pattern
  • Facade Pattern
  • Observer Pattern
  • Iterator Pattern
  • Lazy Initialization Pattern
  • Proxy Pattern
  • Builder Pattern
• jQuery Plugin Design Patterns
• JavaScript Namespacing Patterns
• Conclusions
• References

HTML5 Programming with JavaScript For Dummies

Web designers and programmers, add JavaScript to your HTML5 development toolkit without fear

Modern websites are complex, and some of the most exciting features - things like geolocation, canvas, portability to mobile and more - require JavaScript to leverage what HTML5 can create. Don't know JavaScript? That's where HTML5 Programming with JavaScript For Dummies comes in. Rather than walking you through JavaScript as a programming language, it approaches JavaScript as a tool to help you enhance web pages.

• Helps web designers and programmers tap the full power of HTML5 by leveraging JavaScript, even if they have no prior knowledge of JavaScript
• Enables readers to produce modern websites with today's technology essentials: portability to mobile devices, animation, the use of Libraries, the Canvas component, and more
• Emphasizes practical uses and offers many short examples for illustration

Discover basic to complex ways to use JavaScript programming syntax to harness the full power of HTML5 and CSS3.

HTML5 Game Development For Dummies

Learn to:

• Use HTML5 to build graphically rich, interactive games
• Prepare your creations to work on mobile devices
• Create adventure games, word games, space games, and others
• Apply a basic physics model for more advanced motion

Love games? Turn your imagination loose with the tools and techniques in this book!

Game fanatic Andy Harris has written the book he wishes he'd had when he started creating games for his own enjoyment. Whether you're new to programming or a skilled programmer eager to cash in on today's game bonanza, you'll find just what you need here. Master HTML5 and CSS game tools and build powerful games that also work on mobile devices.

• Building blocks — learn the essentials of HTML, CSS, and programming with JavaScript
• Of sprites and such — create sprites (the moving elements of your game), control them, and manage their speed
• Rev up the engine — discover how to use the simpleGame engine and its library of objects to bring your game to life
• Sound is super — choose an audio editor and locate or build sound effects to add interest and excitement to your game
• Games for the road — see how HTML5 facilitates mobile game development and learn to make your game work as an app

Open the book and find:

• The necessary parts of a game
• How to build a basic HTML5 page
• Step-by-step directions for some simple starter games
• Tips on debugging your code
• The importance of collisions and how to manage them
• Why it's wise to plan every detail of your game
• Mobile-specific tricks for game developers
• Outlines of ten games you can finish yourself

About the Author

Andy Harris taught himself programming because it was fun. He's a full-time computer science instructor at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), where his courses include web development and game programming, and he's the bestselling author of HTML, XHTML & CSS All-in-One For Dummies.

Create your first Windows Store app using JavaScript

The tutorial series by Microsoft explain how to use JavaScript with HTML5 and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to create Windows Store apps.

Hello World of Windows Store app using JavaScript

• Part 1: Create a "Hello, world!" app
  Start here to create your first app, a simple "Hello, world" app that displays a personalized greeting. Learn how to
  - Create a new project
  - Add HTML content to your start page
  - Handle touch, pen, and mouse input
  - Switch between the light and dark style sheets
  - Create your own custom styles
  - Use a Windows Library for JavaScript control
• Part 2: Manage app lifecycle and state
  In Windows 8, you can launch several apps and switch between them without having to worry about slowing down the system or running the battery down. That's because the system automatically suspends (and sometimes terminates) apps that are running in the background for you. A well-designed app can be suspended, terminated, and relaunched by the system and seem as though it were running the entire time.
  In Part 2 of this tutorial series, you update your "Hello, world" app to respond to lifecycle events and save user and session data.
• Part 3: PageControl objects and navigation
  The "Hello, world" app that you created in the previous tutorials contains a single page of content, but most real-world apps will contain several pages. In this tutorial, you copy the code from your "Hello, world" app into a new app that uses the Navigation App template, and then you add an additional page and enable navigation between the app's pages.
• Part 4: Layout and orientation
  In this tutorial, we go over the basics of creating a user interface in HTML and CSS. To learn these basics, you create a simple photo viewer that lets the user pick an image from their Pictures Library, and then it shows the image and some info about the image file. For this tutorial, we start from scratch with a new app.
• Part 5: File access and pickers
  In this tutorial, you add functionality to the app you created in Part 4: Layout and views. First, you handle the "Get photo" button click event to open a file picker and let the user select an image from their Pictures library. Then you bind UI controls to file properties to show the picture info. Finally, we revisit what you learned in Part 2 about how to save app state. Here, you use a MostRecentlyUsedList to keep access to the image selected by the user.
• Doc roadmap
  After you're done with the tutorials, check out the doc roadmap for a list of key resources that can help you learn more about creating Windows Store apps using JavaScript.