Another Revolution?

[Josh Mellicker]

As alluring as a solution like this might be in theory, javascript is  
very resistant to attempts to high-level language it.

There are too many traps and weirdnesses and browser bugs and  
inconsistencies to make this an easy job- presenting an app in a  
browser requires getting right into the javascript code and getting  
your hands dirty if you want it to to work and be fast enough.

There are several javascript frameworks that help speed up  
development- but anyone expert enough in javascript to be able to use  
the frameworks, they often choose to just code by hand from scratch.

Kind of like Dreamweaver allowed noobs to create bloated, slow- 
loading web pages full of "<font></font><font></font><font></ 
font><font></font>"-type crap, but real developers still just type HTML.

Javascript syntax itself is not that hard to learn for an xTalk  
programmer, but what you need to know is all the workarounds for IE,  
and that's a huge body of knowledge. =)

On Jan 17, 2008, at 2:48 PM, Scott Rossi wrote:

> So, while visiting Macworld San Francisco this week, I chanced upon  
> a small
> booth that had the word "HyperCard" in the description.  I was  
> prepared to
> dismiss whatever goofball developments the guys there were showing,  
> but
> after talking to them for a while, I think they have an interesting  
> take on
> x-talk (for them it's HyperTalk).  Called "TileStack", their  
> intention is to
> create a HyperCard-type development environment, but starting from  
> the Web
> side using Javascript libraries and server-based logic, instead of  
> starting
> from the desktop side.  All coding will use the HyperTalk (TileTalk?)
> language and if I recall correctly, the initial IDE will be a Web- 
> based
> front end.
>
> The interesting possibility about this is that, if it is ever  
> released,
> stacks will be immediately sharable by a much larger audience than  
> x-talk
> tools which require players/standalones (I believe only Javascript  
> is needed
> to run a stack, thus the potential for delivery could be equal to  
> or maybe
> even greater than Flash, which requires a player).  Obviously,  
> there are a
> lot of questions to be answered, and it wasn't clear to me how far  
> along
> they are, but they have a simple puzzle demo on their site and they  
> are
> collecting email addresses of interested parties for early access.
>
> http://tilestack.com/
>
> FWIW.
>
> Regards,
>
> Scott Rossi
> Creative Director
> Tactile Media, Multimedia & Design
>
>
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