Classes in Javascript? Absolutely

After reading a brief overview of the proposed additions to Javascript 2.0 and the ensuing mixed reactions, it became apparent that many developers opposed class support as an addition to the language specification. Inheritance, encapsulation, and modularization are all beneficial features of classes (used correctly, of course), yet many Javascript developers have outright dismissed class support, often with utter contempt. If classes have proved beneficial in other languages, why wouldn't the same hold true for Javascript? Many developers feel that class support would detract from the dynamic power of Javascript.

Design matters even when it "doesn't matter"

The other day I was at an event discussing the importance of preparing for ediscovery within an organization. One of the technical solutions mentioned by a panelist during the presentation was a widely used enterprise document management tool. After the presentation, I was discussing our new custom Digital Asset Management system with a few acquaintances. The first question out of their mouth was, “Is it easier to use than [widely used enterprise doc management tool]?"

Don't Skimp on Your Metadata!

I’m sick of shoddy metadata. All of the popular web frameworks insist on repurposing existing artifacts as metadata. With Rails, the database is the metadata. Grails? Domain classes. Don’t get me wrong: both solutions are vastly superior to the old EJB-style “change 7 files to reflect a new attribute name” paradigm. But metadata is the core of scaffolding, and generation of that scaffolding is critical in staying DRY. As far as the framework is concerned, your metadata is the authoritative representation of your application’s design, so using an artifact that was never intended to do so is playing with fire. The problem? There are concepts that should be modeled in metadata that can not be represented by a database table. Example: many-to-many relationships.