NYC LOCAL: Thursday 20 July 2006 UNIGROUP: Dan Phiffer on AJAX and other Advanced JavaScript Techniques

[secretary]

<blockquote
  what="official UNIGROUP announcement">

 Date: Thu, 20 Jul 2006 02:02:06 -0400 (EDT)
 From: Unigroup_of_NY <unilist@unigroup.org>
 Subject: Reminder: UNIGROUP 20-JUL-2006 (Thu): AJAX and Advanced JavaScript 
Techniques


 Reminder: UNIGROUP's AJAX/Javascript Talk is TODAY (Thursday)...

 Some updated info in this meeting reminder:

   1) O'Reilly just sent us a bunch of AJAX books.
      The books will be at today's meeting.  Thanks O'Reilly!

   2) New Trade Show information for Interop NY 2006.

 For all those who have already RSVP'd, thanks, we received them.

 -Rob
  Unigroup

 =================================================================
 UNIGROUP OF NEW YORK - UNIX USERS GROUP - JULY 2006 ANNOUNCEMENTS
 =================================================================

    -------------------------------------------------
 1. UNIGROUP'S JULY 2006 GENERAL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT
    -------------------------------------------------

       When:  THURSDAY, July 20th, 2006    (3rd Thursday)

      Where:  Alliance for Downtown NY Conference Facility
              Downtown Center
              104 Washington Street
              South West Corner of Wall Street Area
              Downtown, New York City
              ** Please RSVP (not mandatory) **

       Time:  6:15 PM - 6:25 PM  Registration
              6:25 PM - 6:45 PM  Ask the Wizard, Questions,
                                 Answers and Current Events
              6:45 PM - 7:00 PM  Unigroup Business and Announcements
              7:00 PM - 9:30 PM  Main Presentation

              ---------------------------------------------
      Topic:  AJAX and other Advanced JavaScript Techniques
              ---------------------------------------------

   Speaker:   Dan Phiffer
              ShiftSpace <http://www.shiftspace.org>


    INTRODUCTION:
    -------------

    This month's meeting will continue on the Web Technologies theme
    we started a few months ago when we covered LAMP (Part 1) - MySQL.

    AJAX is a JavaScript technique that has become required learning
    for anyone building the new generation of web applications.
    Behind all the hype is a practical workhorse that can actually
    make web applications more useful.

    AJAX seems to be a very hot topic right now... from SlashDots
    and Google Maps, to magazine articles and professional seminars...
    just look and you are bound to find something being said about
    AJAX on a daily basis.  It seems like a great time to hold
    this meeting!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS:
    ---------------------

    To REGISTER for this event, please RSVP by using the Unigroup
    Registration Page:
          http://www.unigroup.org/unigroup-rsvp.html

    This will allow us to automate the registration process.
    (Registration will also add you to our mailing list.)
    Please avoid emailed RSVPs, if at all possible.

    Please continue to check the Unigroup web site and meeting page,
    for any last minute updates concerning this meeting.  If you
    registered for this meeting, please check your email for any last
    minute announcements as the meeting approaches.  Also make sure
    any anti-spam white-lists are updated to _ALLOW_ Unigroup traffic!

    Please try to RSVP as soon as possible.

    Note: RSVP is not mandatory for this location, but it does help
          us to properly plan the meeting (food, drinks, handouts,
          seating, etc.).

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    MAIN PRESENTATION OUTLINE:
    --------------------------

    Topic: AJAX and other Advanced JavaScript Techniques
           ---------------------------------------------

    - What is AJAX?
        - Origins
        - "Fancy JavaScript"
        - Cutting through the hype
        - On asynchronosity
    - AJAX in the wild
        - Popular examples:
            - Google Suggest (http://google.com/webhp?complete=1)
            - Google Maps (http://maps.google.com/) - mash-ups
            - Flickr (http://flickr.com/)
            - Backpack (http://backpackit.com/)
            - TiddlyWiki (http://tiddlywiki.com/)
        - Some of my own projects:
            - Box grid weblog (http://phiffer.org/projects/box-grid)
            - Wikipedia Animate (http://phiffer.org/projects/wikipedia-animate/)
            - url(x) (http://urlx.org/)
            - GridFilter (http://gridfilter.com/)
            - ShiftSpace (http://shiftspace.org/)
    - Breakneck JavaScript primer
        - Knowledge through syntax osmosis
        - Everything is an object (kind of)
        - DOM overview
    - How does AJAX work?
        - XMLHttpRequest
        - Requesting data
        - Processing responses
    - Do we really need this?
        - When it makes sense to use AJAX
        - Alternative technologies
        - Performance benchmarks
    - Application Walkthroughs.
        - Live search
        - Inline text editing
        - Processing RSS
    - How to Debug AJAX?
        - Firefox JavaScript console
        - Venkman JavaScript debugger
        - Logging to the page
    - Frameworks
        - Prototype JavaScript Framework (http://prototype.conio.net/)
        - Scriptaculous (http://script.aculo.us/)
        - Dojo (http://dojotoolkit.org/)
    - My own toolkit
        - http.js
        - animate.js
        - utils.js
    - Compatibility considerations
        - Browser requirements & quirks
        - Accessibility & failing gracefully
        - Addressing AJAX apps
    - Tinker Tool

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Web Resources:
    --------------

    Mozilla Developer Center
      http://developer.mozilla.org/

    The XML HTTP Request Object
      http://jibbering.com/2002/4/httprequest.html

    QuirksMode
      http://www.quirksmode.org/

    JavaScript (Re)Introduction
      
http://simon.incutio.com/slides/2006/etech/javascript/js-reintroduction-notes.html

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Speaker Biography:
    ------------------

    Dan Phiffer is a programmer and creative worker from California
    currently enrolled at NYU's Interactive Telecommunications
    Program, where he helps coordinate a weekly hands-on tutorial
    series called drive-bys.  Dan has worked with clients such as The
    New York Times, The Smithsonian, KCET Public Television and
    National Geographic, helping to improve the online experience for
    both users and publishers.  Dan's current project to promote
    web-based creative expression, called ShiftSpace (shiftspace.org),
    was recently recognized by Ars Electronica and will be presented
    at their annual Prix Ars festival in Austria later this summer.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Company Biography:
    ------------------

    ShiftSpace is an Open Source platform that seeks to add an
    additional layer of abstraction above our current web. Using a
    loosely coupled network of distributed proxies.  ShiftSpace seeks
    to provide a new set of virtual public spaces intended to enhance
    and offer a greater variety of online experiences.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Giveaways:
    ----------

    O'Reilly has been kind enough to provide us with some of their
    books, which we will continue to raffle off as giveaways at our
    meetings.

    Addison-Wesley Professional/Prentice Hall PTR has been kind
    enough to provide us with some of their books, which we will
    continue to raffle off as giveaways at our meetings.

    Unigroup would like to thank both companies for the support
    provided by their User Group programs.

    Note: The chances tend to be about 1 in 5, that any attendee of
    our meeting will walk away with a fairly valuable giveaway
    (ie. most books are valued between $30 and $60)!

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Fee Schedule:
        Yearly Membership (includes all meetings):      $ 50.00
        Non-Member Single Meeting:                      $ 20.00
        Student Yearly Membership:                      $ 20.00
        Non-Member Student Single Meeting (with ID):    $  5.00
        Payment Methods: Cash, Check, American Express.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Complimentary Food and Refreshments will be served.  This includes
    "wraps" such as turkey, roast beef, chicken, tuna and grilled
    vegetables as well as assorted salads (potato, tossed,
    pasta, etc), cookies, bottled water and assorted beverages.

    -------------------------------------------------------------------

    Directions:

      Alliance for Downtown NY Conference Facility
      Downtown Center
      104 Washington Street
      Wall Street Area
      Downtown, New York City

    This building is located on the West side of the street, the
    second building north of Rector Street.  Cross Streets:
    Between Rector (South) and Carlisle (North) Streets.

    Our meeting location is in the Lower West Corner of Downtown,
    North of the Battery Tunnel, South of the Downtown Hotel,
    East of West Street, and West of Greenwich Street.  Walking West
    on Rector Street from Broadway, you pass Church, Greenwich then
    Washington Streets.

    There are multiple blocks of parking lots right there, between
    Washington and Greenwich Streets, starting at the Battery Tunnel
    and extending North for a number of blocks.

    Nearest mass transit stations, in order, are the '1/9' (Rector
    Street), 'R/W' (Rector Street) and the '4/5' (Wall Street).

    -----

    Please mark this meeting on your calendar and join us!
    Please tell your friends about Unigroup!

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    -----------------
 2. UPCOMING MEETINGS
    -----------------

    We have a series of meetings in the works:

    - AJAX / Advanced JavaScript
    - LAMP Part 2 - PHP
    - NO SPAM!  (know any speakers on SPF and DNSrbl?)
    - Asterix / VoIP
    - Field Trip to Sun - Solaris 10 Update and/or Networking Stack (planning)
    - Field Trip to HP - Invited
    - Are there too many Linux Distributions?
    - Unix 35th Birthday Celebration (Sun has offered to host this!)
    - IPsec and IPv6
    - Samba
    - DNS
    - Unix Clusters and Clustered Databases
    - Linux Clustering Part 3: Beowulf version 2
    - Building a Firewall using FreeBSD and Linux
    - High Performance Internet Servers / Web Acceleration
    - Unix Office Tools: Word Processors, Spreadsheets, Accounting Packages.
    - PKI
    - GNU Development Environments
    - iSCSI, Serial ATA, and other new peripheral technologies

    Please let us know about any other meeting topics that you may be
    interested in.  Potential speakers on Unix related technology topics
    should contact the Unigroup Board.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    --------------
 3. PRIOR MEETINGS
    --------------

    May 2006: The AMANDA Open Source Enterprise Backup System
    ---------------------------------------------------------

    Unigroup would like to thank Ian Turner from Zmanda for his
    presentation about Amanda and the Amanda Project.  We learned about
    Amanda, its capabilities for cross-platform enterprise backup, and
    we discussed various aspects of emergency restoring from tape when
    when Amanda has not yet been installed.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    ----------------------------
 4. LOCAL EVENTS and TRADE SHOWS
    ----------------------------

    A) Interop NY 2006
       ---------------

       When:   September 18-22, 2006.
       Where:  Javits Center

       For show information visit: http://www.interop.com/succeed

    B) InfoSecurity 2006
       -----------------

       When:   October 24-25, 2006.
       Where:  Javits Center

       For show information visit: http://www.infosecurityevent.com

    Please let us know about other Unix/Linux/Networking/Internet/Security
    related events in our area (especially ones with no-charge admission),
    that we have not yet mentioned.

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

    --------------------
 5. UNIGROUP INFORMATION
    --------------------

    Unigroup is one of the oldest and largest Unix User's Groups serving
    the Greater New York City Regional Area since the early 1980s.  Unigroup
    is a not-for-profit, vendor-neutral and member funded volunteer
    organization.  Unigroup holds regular and special event meetings
    throughout the year on technical topics relating to Unix and the Unix
    User Community.  Unigroup is/was also the Greater NYC Regional Area
    Affiliate of UniForum - an International Unix Users Group.

    Unigroup holds regular meetings planned for (at a minimum) the Third
    THURSDAY of Odd Months.  We generally try to hold Field Trip or
    Vendor Specific Meetings on the Even Months, although we do have the
    ability to hold monthly meetings at our new downtown meeting location.

    Planned regular meeting dates are: 7/20/2006, 9/21/2006, 11/16/2006...
    Watch for our Special Event meetings at the various trade shows in NYC
    as well as "Field Trips" to the facilities of local hardware and
    software vendors.

    =========================================================================
    = For Unigroup Information, Events and Meeting Announcements be sure to =
    = visit our World Wide Web Home Page:                                   =
    =       http://www.unigroup.org                                         =
    =========================================================================

    For further information or to get on the Unigroup Electronic Mail Mailing
    List send an EMail message to:
         unilist (at) unigroup.org

    To contact the Board of Directors of Unigroup, send an EMail message to:
         uniboard (at) unigroup.org

    If you have recently attended a meeting and you are not receiving
    Email announcements, please send us an Email and we will make
    corrections to our lists.

    Please Email the Board with any suggestions, especially potential
    meeting topics and speakers.  Unigroup welcomes contributions and
    content suggestions for our newsletter.  Unigroup is a volunteer
    organization and we need your assistance!  Please let us know if you
    can help!

 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I hope to see you all at our next meeting!

 -Rob Weiner
  Unigroup Executive Director
  unilist (at) unigroup.org
  http://www.unigroup.org
  
</blockquote>


Distributed poC TINC:

Jay Sulzberger <secretary@lxny.org>
Corresponding Secretary LXNY
LXNY is New York's Free Computing Organization.
http://www.lxny.org