This chapter dealt more in-depth with objects and patterns to use objects for namespacing, dependency declaration, modules, and sandboxing. Objects are also used for private, privileged, static, private static members, constants, chaining, and a class-inspired way to define a constructor.

I’ve had Costume Quest (CQ) sitting on my desktop for over a month, but even if you consider I wasn’t around for a couple of weeks, it’s still been sitting on my desktop for quite a while. I’m not sure what possessed me to keep playing, even though it took a long time for me to get into it. I suppose over time the cartoony graphics and the charm just kept asking me to play even though the story was a little lacking.

This chapter focused on functions in JavaScript.

This chapter focused on objects, arrays, primitive types (number, string, boolean), and errors. It’s a fairly high overview of the topics, but there were some gems I wasn’t aware of.

A friend let me borrow JavaScript Patterns by Stoyan Stefanov earlier in the year, but I didn’t get around to it until now. JavaScript has been intimidating, even during it’s early years when it was often used for pop-ups, but I keep returning to try to master it. I guess the intricacies and slightly different logic from classic languages like Java or C# makes me motivated to better understand the language. I’ve already read through the book once as a quick read, but wanted to go through it again and take my time to absorb the different patterns and better practices as I keep working on my personal projects while searching for a job.

A GPS Visualizer already exists, but I wanted to code my own as an exercise. I didn’t realize the challenges involved would include figuring out a lot of the navigation nuances, but I found it all interesting nonetheless. For example, my camera (a Canon SX260HS) logs GPS info in NMEA format and I would need to do a little bit of fiddling to get the NMEA coordinate values into Google Maps coordinate values. Since I gathered a good handful of resources to reach a proof of concept/early beta state, I decided to document my process so far. (The result can be found here).

I went to the free SoCal UX (User Experience) Camp “un”-conference yesterday, wondering what I might learn from the design-side of things. I was hoping to get a better glimpse into what a UX designer does and where they fit into the work flow. It wasn’t eye-opening or revelatory, as many of the things I was already familiar with from undergrad, grad, or just from working. I think the most important takeaway for me is I’m happy being a developer/programmer, but also being aware of the techniques UX designers use (e.g., use-cases) can also help me be a better programmer. UX is something new and I have seen a lot of positions open up for it at various companies as sort of the “next big thing” so I feel understanding the space is important.

I’m still wrapping my mind around the “this” keyword in JavaScript. I ran into some problems when I was working through some exercises and I realized I just didn’t understand how this worked. I also began to get a little uncomfortable when saw this being used seemingly haphazardly (at least to me since I didn’t understand it all that well) in other people’s code. It was a larger shock when I was going through some old code for a new project and this was being used extensively. At the time, I was working through a tutorial so I was probably more focused on building the content of that tutorial (a game), rather than on understanding the syntax.

I’ve been hesitant to turn my iPhone into a portable gaming platform. I haven’t really bought into the interface controls for a lot of the games on mobile platforms because they just seem a little strange. For example, a virtual joystick that usually sits in the corner of the screen with accompanying buttons on the opposite side. Or way too much tapping. I used to watch/help my sister play Mystery Manor on her iPad, which she played with a stylus because she got tired of cleaning the screen of fingerprints. But sometimes, mobile games leverage the capabilities of the mobile platforms they live on and it’s not so bad. Quell was my first mobile phone game.

I have a love/hate relationship with achievements. I find the majority of in-game achievements to be silly and a waste of time (Killed 10 rats)–some even patronizing (Congrats! You just jumped!)–but there are the few achievements that really make you feel like you’ve done something well. I also come from a generation of hard-core gamers and not today’s casual gaming crowd. I have a little bit of an OCD when it comes to achievements because I see them as a laundry list of things to complete. So, I’ve developed a blind spot for achievements. I’ll glance at them when they pop up, but otherwise don’t bother looking at the entire list, otherwise I’ll get sucked in and feel like I need to complete them.

Fruit Ninja (yeah, I know I’m late to the party) was a game I almost didn’t get, even though it was free, but when my sister asked, I went ahead and got it. This past weekend, we’ve been playing and at first I didn’t care much for the game until my sister told me about unlocking blades. Then, I started perking up. It’s a silly thing to get interested in, but I easily sank a couple of hours slicing up virtual fruit trying to unlock new blades and wallpapers. I think the reason is less about the aesthetics/unlocks and the general sense of achievement, and more of the camaraderie/bonding with my sister through playing this game.