Web Info & Tutorials

Binary Interchange Standard and Object Notation (BISON) is a new binary format created by Kai Jäger.

After seeing the direction AJ(AX) was going into with light web service protocols like JSON, I was wondering if I could come up with an even lighter binary protocol that would work with JavaScript. Not so much to replace XML or JSON but more as a proof of concept and to see if it was even possible. I ran into a couple of problems (some of which I talk about in the article), but I actually managed to write a working implementation of the protocol. Essentially, you can now serialize any JavaScript variable into a string that holds a binary representation of whatever you had in that variable. This string may then be sent over XMLHTTPRequest to a script running on a web server. JavaScript and PHP implementations are available from my blog and there’s also a few demos.

I can’t wait for someone to write an XML wrapper of the binary protocol ;)

John Resig has been writing about the bleeding edge features that will hopefully hit us around the Firefox 3 timeframe: DOM Storage and Microformat integration.

DOM Storage

John wanted to delve into DOM Storage and answered some of the questions posed such as:

• What’s to stop a script from filling an entire storage area with random data?
• Storing data to globalStorage[’localdomain’] (intranet global storage baybee)
• What’s with the name “DOM Storage”? (It is bad isn't it)
• The storage event
• Server-side Data

Microformats

Michael has already started developing the solid Microformat Parser, with Andy Mitchell, that will go into Firefox 3. And since this is part of the overall Firefox 3 Content Handling Requirements, it's a big priority for inclusion.

So, what could this content-handling API mean for you, the Firefox extension developer? It means that you would be able to write quick-and-dirty JavaScript to handle matched Microformats - and it'd be blazingly fast.

For example, here's some pseudo-code (any final result will, most likely, be very very different):

PLAIN TEXT

JAVASCRIPT:

1.  
2. Microformats.addHandler("hcard", function(card){
3.    var img = document.createElement("img");
4.    img.src = "hcard.gif";
5.    img.title = card.data.name + "'s Personal Information";
6.    card.container.appendChild( img );
7. });
8.  

It is fun to hear about the new features. Thanks to John for getting the word out.

Steven Levithan saw the Poly9’s Polyvalent Javascript address Parser and thinks he has finished digit better.

He created parseUri and thinks it has advantages:

• Ability to separate the directory line and enter name.
• If a line factor was inform in the maker URL, it module ever convey a chase cutting as the terminal case in the directoryPath factor (this is cushy to vanish if a individual does not poverty this functionality).
• Offers convenient, pre-concatenated commonly utilised factor pairs (authority = field + port; line = directoryPath + fileName).
• Much device coefficient (literally exclusive a some lines of code).
• Cleaner structure (e.g., parseUri(someUri).port).
• Unlike the deciding code, it does not allow an extemely anaemic and imperfect endeavor at validation.
• It’s such more flexible, since every address components are optional.
• Uses preparation lawful countenance syntax.
• More closly follows the generic URI structure description ordered in RFC 3986
• Available in JavaScript and ColdFusion implementations.

So, Is there some leaner, meaner URI parser discover there?