Offering regional and national programs, CIO (and CSO) events bring together some of the most respected names and thought leaders in information technology and security. Presented by CIOs and other senior level executives, these invitation-only programs offer timely topics and strong networking. Learn More »
Public Council Teleconference: Application Rationalization — Hidden Costs and Smart Decisions
November 17 at 11:00 am US/Eastern (GMT-5)
Join Honorio Padrón, of The Hackett Group, who will share the drivers for companies to tackle application rationalization and the results of research that define the hidden cost of complexity. Additionally, we will discuss key decision milestones—to start or not, holding the course steady and fulfilling expectations.
Virtual Desktop Cost-Benefit Analysis — Michael Jacobs, Catlin Group
The analysis contained in this presentation measures the cost of everything from the machines and licenses to the infrastructure for virtual vs. traditional desktop environments.
Honor your best senior team members - Apply for the CIO Ones to Watch Award
Get well-earned public recognition for your top up-and-coming team members, your IT organization and your enterprise. Award winners will be announced, publicized and feted in May 2010, great timing to help attract new IT recruits to your company.
Learn more about the CIO Executive Council »January 25, 2008 — CIO —
The word "JavaScript" has become a lightning rod in the Web development community. Depending on who you listen to, JavaScript is either the shining beacon of light leading us toward Web 3.0 or it's an insidious plot to bring the Web to its knees, one hover button at a time. If you eliminate the radical points of view on each end of the spectrum, you are left with very real questions about when it makes sense to use JavaScript, and when it doesn't. There is no doubt that overzealous scripters have built applications that stretch the limits of JavaScript...and in some cases, reason.
What kind of JavaScript development scenario qualifies as stretching the limits of reason? For one, attempting to build complex multimedia applications such as action games. Sure, in many ways it's technically possible to accomplish given that JavaScript is a powerful technology with the capability to manipulate images, carry out animation timing, etc. But high-performance multimedia is in no way JavaScript's strong suit. Even if performance wasn't a critical consideration, JavaScript still falls short when compared to other options, such as Adobe Flash. If you're trying to create complex multimedia software with JavaScript, you're ultimately reinventing several wheels; specialized tools exist for the very purpose of empowering Web developers to build rich, online multimedia experiences.
Okay, so maybe Halo 4 in JavaScript was never really on the table at your company. Does that mean everything else is open game? Not hardly. There are still other pitfalls awaiting the overconfident JavaScript developer who insists on using a JavaScript hammer to whack away at every interactive Web nail in sight.
But the problem of abusing JavaScript as a Web development technology is ultimately more subtle than just pointing out a handful of less-than-ideal coding techniques or application categories. Yes, it's true that nifty little Web effects such as image roll-overs should be carried out using Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), not JavaScript. It's also true that it's generally a bad idea to craft hyperlinks using JavaScript code that breaks down when JavaScript is absent. And don't even get me started on using JavaScript to detect browser versions or, most horrific of all, hijack the browser's status bar to display a cute animated message. The real issue of assessing the role of JavaScript in a specific Web application comes down to the role of the application. Is it a page, a program, or some combination of the two?