[erlang-questions] Two beautiful programs - or web programming made easy

[Vlad Dumitrescu]

On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 11:59, Joe Armstrong <erlang@REDACTED> wrote:

> On Mon, Feb 14, 2011 at 10:50 AM, Vlad Dumitrescu <vladdu55@REDACTED>wrote:
>
>> I've been following the discussion with mixed feelings. I may be simply
>> confused, but isn't this something that one has been able to do with Flash
>> since quite a while? So yes, it's cool that it can now be done without
>> proprietary plugins, but is it new?
>>
>
> You're right I could have done it with flash, or actionscript, but I didn't
> do it.
>

Ok, I think I understand your position. Thanks for the clarification.

BTW, how do you mean that the javascript will draw things on the screen?
>> Wouldn't it be by manipulating the browser document model, building a html
>> document on the fly? So maybe I don't have to know the html syntax, but I
>> still need to understand how a html document is structured (which imho is
>> the more difficult part of the two). An alternative would be to actually
>> draw pixels, but then it would be easier to skip the browser altogether.
>>
>
> Javascript provides a abstract interface to the browser. Of course js
> actually manipulates the DOM
> but the user should not be aware of this. JS routines should manipulate the
> DOM set css properties
> etc. to present the user with a uniform model of what's underneath.
>

I would say that this is what jQuery, mootools, yui and the other frameworks
try to do - it doesn't seem easy to agree on which way is right :-)


> Re-reading my answer, it sounds a negative, but what I mean is to try to
>> clarify the intent of Joe's idea, maybe I'm missing the point. Personally, I
>> would go way out to the wild side and suggest replacing the javascript
>> engine in the browser with an erlang one :-)
>>
>
> That's a wee bit more tricky.
>

Of course, but it's a wee bit more fun, imo!

regards,
Vlad