Archive for category Technology

What ? No more XML in AJAX ?

Posted by therider in Technology on February 16, 2006

Yeah, it seems like the emerging JSON format makes much more sense than having XML as the data-interchange format. In today’s data saturated world, web-programmers would be blissfully happy if the data doesn’t need some complex parsing. And JSON does just that. Consider a fragment of structured data that many “Ajax-ed” application of today could be receiving over the web:

firstname = Velma, lastname = Kelly

While the xml version could be (that needs parsing):

<name>
  <firstname>Velma</firstname>
  <lastname>Kelly</lastname>
</name>

JSON is:

{'firstname':'Velma', 'lastname':'Kelly'}

which doesn’t need parsing at all. The json data as a string can be converted to a javascript object and used like this:

var jsonObj = eval ( '(' + jsonObjAsString + ')' );
var fname = jsonObj.firstname; // or jsonObj['firstname']

Useful, right ? And consider how much less space and effort it takes to handle JSON. Clearly the preferred data interchange format for the dynamic web applications, many of which can’t even use XHR (XmlHttpRequest) because of crossdomain security issue of browsers. The solution is using dynamic script elements and using JSON just makes the whole effort a lot easier.

Here is Douglas Crockford’s interesting blog post.

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Wireless @ Airport – first time

Posted by therider in Personal, Technology on July 1, 2005

SFO airport. Going to chicago to meet parents after 1 long year. T-mobile hotspot day pass at $10 for 24 hours of unlimited mobile internet. AC power terminal right next to my seat beside gate 47. Nothing else is necessary on the eve of this long weekend.

Bought a usb wireless card sometime back keeping this weekend’s trip in mind, but somehow it would not work on my linux-only laptop. At the last moment the PCMCIA card of dhyanesh’s laptop worked on mine and we exchanged the cards.

It is just one hell of fun for me. Never used wireless like this, let alone from as exciting location as this.

I am going to make full use of this… gotta see if I can use it from the flight too…
There is still two more hours to kill but it will now seem less than two minutes to me…

Long live wireless.

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first Wireless and GPS !

Posted by therider in Personal, Technology on April 22, 2005

my laptop sat forever on my desk because of the dialup cable, and then the ethernet. i dont carry it around much, so been thinking that i should have got a desktop instead, given the extreme use it gets everyday.

yesterday at walmart i was looking at the wireless cards, and been thinking how i can chat with priti without having to write “brb” to watch some tv while having dinner in the living room (which almost always ends up watching a whole movie and returning to the chat after indefinite time, pissing her off). been waiting for a $5 deal since last black friday, but then finally gave up. first try was to get it running on my fedora core 2 partition, but as usual, it involved frantic looking for drivers from the net, also got to know that this particular card (linksys WPC11v4) is “infamous” for fedora core 2 systems ! still have to fight a lot, but that is the fun with linux.

today again, i needed some more technology to cheer me up a little more. with the travel to california coming up for summer, and also regular long distance motorcycle rides, i finally succumbed to my temptation for the outdoor enthiast’s ultimate tool – a GPS !

a lot of online research and price comparisons rewarded me with the choice of a decent kit – a Garmin eTrex Vista C, with all major US roads built in, the option of downloading detailed topographic maps in it, and complete with an electronic compass and a barometer/altimeter. a dream tool for me without a doubt, and for not much money.

Here is the GPS at gpsexplorer.com: Garmin eTrex Vista C

———- update ———-
could not yet make the linksys wireless card work on my fedora core 2. my friend who uses fedora 3 and a netgear card, tried to use mine on his laptop and gave up too. $40 is too much price for a card that refuses to run on my linux system, so it is going back to walmart tomorrow. back to waiting-for-a-too-good-deal…

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joydutta.com launched !!!

Posted by therider in Technology on April 8, 2005

finally the d-day, the d-moment for me !!!

the index page for my very own domain is up and running. lost count of how many hours of labor and brainstorming has gone into the design of my online identity, one that sums me up as clearly as possible.

it feels really good now. still lot more work remains, but having the index page ready is unlike anything else…

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