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Follow @naelshawwa
I'm a solution engineer at ThinkWrap. I specialize in web app front end architecture , JavaScript performance, Google maps + other data mashups and visualization. I co-organize #DevTO in Toronto. I'm a McMaster University alumni. Football, not soccer. Get in touch.
These thoughts are my own.
Author Archives: Nael El Shawwa
The Curse of JavaScript: Avoid the powertools until you understand the drill bits.
If I were a gambling man I would bet that everybody that has or is developing using JavaScript (today that is probably all if not most web developers) has started out one day by copying and pasting some script from … Continue reading
Posted in front end architecture, Software, web apps
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How to: Google Docs Form with Multiple Spreadsheets
I caught a question on Twitter today about Google Docs Forms and Spreadsheets: Can one #Google form populate multiple spreadsheets? If so, how? #help #GoogleDocs — Roberto Sarjoo (@robsarj) December 19, 2011 I have been sharpening my skills in … Continue reading
Posted in Google, how to
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What can ant colonies teach front-end architects?
I just read a great article on Embracing Complexity by the Harvard Business Review and I got a crazy idea about using the same “ant colony” metaphor to describe UIs design and architecture. There is a lot to learn from an ant … Continue reading
Enter iPad 2: @naelshawwa’s top 5 iPad apps
For my birthday my fiancé gave me an iPad 2 which I have been talking to her about since the first iPad. My birthday weekend was spent playing with a handful of apps I couldn’t get on my iPhone and … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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Moore’s Law killed HP’s PC business
Last week HP announced that they won’t be making anymore WebOS devices and leaving the PC business altogether. Initially the plan for HP was to integrate WebOS into all their future hardware. That plan is now scrapped. HP seems to … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
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The good, the bad, and the ugly: large scale JavaScript apps
It’s pretty sad that no matter how hard JavaScript tries to be more “serious” it is still perceived as that “scripting” language. Compared to Java or C++ or something else that is “more serious” JavaScript won’t have a chance. But … Continue reading
Posted in #devTO, dojo, how to, thinking out loud, web apps
7 Comments
They’re all doing it wrong: tablet ads
Take a look at these tablet commercials, can you spot the similarities? Toshiba Thrive Motorolla Xoom Blackberry Playbook The first three mentioned things like “flash-loving” or “app-rocking” or how many “ports” it has, or how many “mega pixels” the camera … Continue reading
Posted in Apple, thinking out loud
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Scripting vs. Coding vs. Programming
@laurenonizzle tweeted a link to a forum discussion about the differences between scripting, coding and programming. I’m offering my thoughts here, feel free to chime in with yours. As indicated by several posters on that forum, the line can get blurry. … Continue reading
Posted in thinking out loud
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#DevTO – You don’t just write code
#DevTO started out with @kevinkvs and @jonezy thinking about the need to have a regular meet up for developers in Toronto to share and learn from each other. I first heard of this idea on Twitter from Chris and was immediately intrigued and … Continue reading
All developers are not created equal – hence not interchangeable
Earlier yesterday I came across this article on the New York Times: Thieves Found Citigroup Site an Easy Entry. At first I thought, “Man, another big site had their customer data compromised”, but as I continued reading this incident is … Continue reading
Posted in Software, thinking out loud, web apps
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