The AJAX fruit seems to be sweet, but everything comes with a price. For example security is really an area of concern as I had posted in the article “Same Origin Policy“. This article “AJAX Security Basics” on Security Focus explains AJAX and the security implications of AJAX. One of the challenges in the development lifecycle of a project involving AJAX is the testing part. Traditional way of testing an AJAX application will not help in covering the functionalities implemented with AJAX. Here are some insights and approaches to System testing AJAX applications from AJAX Patterns.

If you are a fan of Firefox browser like me, you would like to have a print out this cheat sheet pasted nearby your desk.

Easter Eggs in programs are very common in earlier days and even now in some of the programs or if someone has cracked it. Well Easter eggs are undocumented code that does something funny but they can be triggered only through special means. I got a mail today with the subject “New bug in Windows XP!!” The mail had the following instructions.

For those of you using Windows, do the following:

1. Open an empty notepad file
2. Type “Bush hid the facts” (without the quotes)
3. Save it as whatever you want.
4. Close it, and re-open it.

is it just a really weird bug?

The moment I saw the outcome I was thinking “Could it be an Easter egg?”, and not really a bug. Well I do not know the answer, if you knew let me know. But coming back to Easter eggs I also did place one in one of my best projects when I was working on VB in my first company. It was a desktop application and typically in any windows application you see a “About” menu item under the Help menu. That brings up a splash screen that displays the logo of the application and other copyright information. I had placed a hot key (Ctrl + Alt + Shift or something similar, don’t remember it now) in the code, that will open up a text box and scrolls all the team members names. I think Easter eggs are cool and it is really cool when someone hacks it and publishes it.

I think as far as a hidden code does not harm the system, its performance or your work in any way, then why call it a bug? I mean why do you want to save a file with that text above? And if at all you wanted that text, you just add a period or a space to it and you no more have that bug, if you really call it a bug. But at the same time I am curious what that output translates to? I tried the Google Translator but could not get anything out. By the way was it chinese or japanese?

Note Talkers and MindJet had announced a competition on Mind Maps using MindManager in March. The following were the topics.

1. A MindManager map about “Note Taking”
2. A MindManager map that describes “What’s on your Mind?”
3. A Screencast demonstrating MindManager

I had participated on topics 1 and 2. The result is out after long waiting and I won the contest on the 2nd topic. I will link to Note Talkers when more details about the entries are published.

Thanks to my friend Vivek who helped in reviewing, giving feedback and sharing his creative thoughts. Thanks to Rajesh Setty and Naveen who have been a source of inspiration to me and thanks to all my friends who supported me.

If you are new to mind maps please refer to my series of posts on Mind Maps.

Here is a wonderful collection of web design resources from Cameron Olthuis on his blog. These resources will definitely come handy for any UI designer/presentation layer developer. Have a great week ahead.

Wow you definitely don’t want a office linebacker like this one to make sure you are not following discipline at office or whiling away your time chatting. Have a great weekend!

A professional is defined as “A person who practices an occupation involving high standards of intellectual knowledge after successfully completing the required education and training.” Not just education and training but a strong foundation and mastery comes from little skills learnt over a period of time. For every gain there is an equal and opposite loss. The additional effort you put in might mean that you might have to sacrifice some of your personal time but the return on investment is always on the longer run. Here are some of the points I think a developer should follow to really become a software professional.

1. Work the hardest way initially. For example use basic tools to write programs than using IDE (Integrated Development Environment) in the initial stages.
2. Question yourself why things have to work the way it works.
3. Never be afraid to try and explore. The system is not going to explode if you make a mistake.
4. Learn from mistakes. Note down the mistakes as well as how it can be avoided in the future.
5. Hone troubleshooting skills. Track your troubleshooting skills and maintain a document.
6. Understand the concepts and not work mechanically just by referring a site, book or the API.
7. Regularly read technical articles, blogs.
8. Use help from others. You don’t need to tie up with your machine all time and crack your head why something is not working. The person sitting next to you might have the solution. Don’t just get the solution but ask why that solution works.
9. Keep in mind of the customer/users when you code. The user would not want to wear a shirt that doesn’t fit him/her.
10. Remember attitude is all matters whether you are in technology or in any area for that matter.
11. Everything comes under give and take policy; knowledge is not an exception to it. Share your knowledge, only then you will know if you learnt correct and what you are missing.
12. Being paranoid is ok, but not taking even a step will not lead you anywhere.
13. That’s OK to use copy and paste but make sure you understand what you are copying and where you are pasting.
14. Be flexible to work on any technology. No technology is bad, but do question why a technology was selected for that problem.
15. Document what you have learnt. It could come handy to you and others down the line.
16. Short term success is needed to keep motivated in running but aim and work for long term success.
17. Set goals and benchmark for yourself. Beat your own record in everything you do.
18. Plan and attack the problems. Don’t blindly jump into the problem. Think and act.
19. Set a deadline for yourself that is ahead of the actual deadline and work against it.
20. Don’t take one size fits all approach. Look at various options and choose the best.

After my post on Continuation Server, I had some discussion about that with my friend Seema. Part of the discussion was about handling the browser’s back and refresh button in web applications. It is advised that the back and refresh button functionality in browser be not disturbed with, because it is a rudimentary part of browser in helping a user switch between pages easily. Albeit an application could behave erratically in terms of repeating a form post and thereby making the application on the server think that it is yet another transaction.

The back and refresh button issue is common in applications where data is critical and the flow is critical and cannot be repeated. Generally applications that involve handling monetary transactions will fall under this category. These applications have to handle the browser’s back and refresh buttons programmatically. As it is not possible to control the browser’s behavior it is something that needs to be handled at the application level in the server. With AJAX applications, things could look better or worse depending on where AJAX has been used in the application. But still it might be necessary to handle the browser’s back. The following sites/articles could give a head start. But effort would be required to put additional pieces to suit your needs.

• Struts Back Mechanism
• Fixing the Back Button and Enabling Bookmarking for AJAX Apps
• Web MVC - Browsers, Transactions and Exceptions
• AJAX: How to Handle Bookmarks and Back Buttons
• Developing Ajax Applications That Preserve Standard Browser Functionality
• Redirect After Post