4 ms·

Amplify: a jQuery component library for solving common web problems.

70 points by nicksergeant 16y ago

drivebyacct2 16y ago
There's a typo in the first example. You're missing a '1' in the first argument when you execute the ajax call. The pub/sub is all local right? I got really excited, then not so much. I still see the value, but I was hoping it was more like Google's javascript+serverside-component PuSH client. [1] http://code.google.com/apis/feed/v1/devguide.html#hiworld http://code.google.com/apis/feed/v1/devguide.html#hiworld (It's really cool, Google runs a PuSH bridge so their server side component subscribes to a Pubsubhubbub hub and receives updates and pushes them to the browser. I want to see an OSS implementation of it since it's really slick and PuSH is a neat protocol).
- deweller 16y ago
  What is this PuSH client and protocol? Is that just another name for Pubsubhubbub? My google-fu is failing me on the term PuSH protocol.
  - aaronbrethorst 16y ago
    PubSubHubbub __ _ _ PuSH.
jcampbell1 16y ago
This is not my cup of tea. 1. I don't like magic string names like "AjaxExample1". Why not return an object, and use: var AjaxExpample1 = amplify.request... 2. It is not clear how you mix get parameters and post data. If I want to POST to "/users/{id}/", how do I separate the post values from the parameter?
- walkon 16y ago
  For concern #2, If they parameter names are found in the request, they are replaced in the url and removed from the POST form data. Full explaination here: http://amplifyjs.com/api/request/#url_substitution/routing http://amplifyjs.com/api/request/#url_substitution/routing
  - bricestacey 16y ago
    This is true, but the examples are incomplete. The "RESTful" POST example excludes parameters in the URL. Small mistake, but very confusing. I'd fix it, but they don't mention how to submit patches.
    - balu 16y ago
      They do mention it. It's a little bit hidden, but see http://amplifyjs.com/community/#pull_requests http://amplifyjs.com/community/#pull_requests
gabrielroth 16y ago
Amplify is a set of components designed to solve common web application problems with a simplistic API. Pretty sure the author means 'simple' rather than 'simplistic.' It's an important distinction!
- sfphotoarts 16y ago
  Simplistic means treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler, that's exactly what Jquery and its suit of plugins (including Amplify) does well.
  - hnhg 16y ago
    So 'simplistic' is right? Would 'simplified' be incorrect here? EDIT: A spot of googling shows that 'simple' is generally held to be the correct word in this context. I guess 'simplified' implies they've taken something complicated and made it simpler, whilst 'simple' implies they've not made anything more complicated than it needs to be.
  - gabrielroth 16y ago
    'Simplistic' is perjorative: a simplistic solution is one that's too simple to properly address the problem.
  - njharman 16y ago
    i no think you know what that word means
balu 16y ago
Wow, this is exactly the kind of interface I dislike. It's way too verbose and I'm not sure why one would add this kind of layer on top of jQuery. I don't see where it makes things easier - it's more like it just provides yet another interface.
moe 16y ago
Three mediocre plugins bundled into one? Sorry but this left me underwhelmed. There are much more powerful plugins for each of these problem spaces.
- dbdoug 16y ago
  Can you give some examples?
  - moe 16y ago
    Sure. -- The 'request' module -- is mixing concerns (network protocol, caching, serialization, model) that you probably don't want to mix that way in a real app. It's pretty trivial to roll the polling part yourself (setTimeout), if you really need a plugin then PeriodicalUpdater[1] might be a candidate (although there are many others, and the cool kids use comet/websocket now anyways). I didn't quite understand the purpose of the caching part; the browser already caches for us after all. It seems like a misnomer for some sort of bridge to the localstorage, but I didn't quite get in what situation storing the verbatim server response would be useful - as opposed to storing the deserialized result (or part thereof). Anyways for the serialization part JSON2.js[2] is your friend. And for models there are various choices, backbone.js[3] being the most popular recently. -- The 'store' module -- doesn't seem to provide anything interesting over jq-store[4]. And if you really want your data to stick around then there's evercookie[5] -- The 'pubsub' module -- was a little hard for me to understand the purpose of. Since it isn't actually about server messaging(?) but rather only a way of passing events inside the browser it seems like what you'd really want is either JavascriptMVC[6], Backbone[3], perhaps knockout[7], or the older chain.js[8], or maybe one of the other two dozen data binding plugins. Admittedly on this last one I may very well just be missing the point entirely. PubSub inside the browser? Huh? [1] https://github.com/RobertFischer/JQuery-PeriodicalUpdater [2] https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js [3] http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/ [4] http://medialize.github.com/jQuery-store/ [5] http://samy.pl/evercookie/ [6] http://www.javascriptmvc.com/ [7] http://knockoutjs.com/ [8] http://ajaxian.com/archives/chainjs-jquery-data-binding-service
    - 16y ago
cdeutsch 16y ago
Would love to see someone explain what this library does in simpler terms. I can't tell which terms are buzzwords, which are industry standard, and which terms are from their own internal vocabulary. PubSub? PubSub to what? Can you give some real world examples of when to use this library and what problems it solves.

70 points by nicksergeant 16y ago

There's a typo in the first example. You're missing a '1' in the first argument when you execute the ajax call. The pub/sub is all local right? I got really excited, then not so much. I still see the value, but I was hoping it was more like Google's javascript+serverside-component PuSH client. [1] http://code.google.com/apis/feed/v1/devguide.html#hiworld http://code.google.com/apis/feed/v1/devguide.html#hiworld (It's really cool, Google runs a PuSH bridge so their server side component subscribes to a Pubsubhubbub hub and receives updates and pushes them to the browser. I want to see an OSS implementation of it since it's really slick and PuSH is a neat protocol).

deweller 16y ago
What is this PuSH client and protocol? Is that just another name for Pubsubhubbub? My google-fu is failing me on the term PuSH protocol.
- aaronbrethorst 16y ago
  PubSubHubbub __ _ _ PuSH.

jcampbell1 16y ago

This is not my cup of tea. 1. I don't like magic string names like "AjaxExample1". Why not return an object, and use: var AjaxExpample1 = amplify.request... 2. It is not clear how you mix get parameters and post data. If I want to POST to "/users/{id}/", how do I separate the post values from the parameter?

walkon 16y ago
For concern #2, If they parameter names are found in the request, they are replaced in the url and removed from the POST form data. Full explaination here: http://amplifyjs.com/api/request/#url_substitution/routing http://amplifyjs.com/api/request/#url_substitution/routing
- bricestacey 16y ago
  This is true, but the examples are incomplete. The "RESTful" POST example excludes parameters in the URL. Small mistake, but very confusing. I'd fix it, but they don't mention how to submit patches.
  - balu 16y ago
    They do mention it. It's a little bit hidden, but see http://amplifyjs.com/community/#pull_requests http://amplifyjs.com/community/#pull_requests

gabrielroth 16y ago

Amplify is a set of components designed to solve common web application problems with a simplistic API. Pretty sure the author means 'simple' rather than 'simplistic.' It's an important distinction!

sfphotoarts 16y ago
Simplistic means treating complex issues and problems as if they were much simpler, that's exactly what Jquery and its suit of plugins (including Amplify) does well.
- hnhg 16y ago
  So 'simplistic' is right? Would 'simplified' be incorrect here? EDIT: A spot of googling shows that 'simple' is generally held to be the correct word in this context. I guess 'simplified' implies they've taken something complicated and made it simpler, whilst 'simple' implies they've not made anything more complicated than it needs to be.
- gabrielroth 16y ago
  'Simplistic' is perjorative: a simplistic solution is one that's too simple to properly address the problem.
- njharman 16y ago
  i no think you know what that word means

balu 16y ago

Wow, this is exactly the kind of interface I dislike. It's way too verbose and I'm not sure why one would add this kind of layer on top of jQuery. I don't see where it makes things easier - it's more like it just provides yet another interface.

moe 16y ago

Three mediocre plugins bundled into one? Sorry but this left me underwhelmed. There are much more powerful plugins for each of these problem spaces.

dbdoug 16y ago
Can you give some examples?
- moe 16y ago
  Sure. -- The 'request' module -- is mixing concerns (network protocol, caching, serialization, model) that you probably don't want to mix that way in a real app. It's pretty trivial to roll the polling part yourself (setTimeout), if you really need a plugin then PeriodicalUpdater[1] might be a candidate (although there are many others, and the cool kids use comet/websocket now anyways). I didn't quite understand the purpose of the caching part; the browser already caches for us after all. It seems like a misnomer for some sort of bridge to the localstorage, but I didn't quite get in what situation storing the verbatim server response would be useful - as opposed to storing the deserialized result (or part thereof). Anyways for the serialization part JSON2.js[2] is your friend. And for models there are various choices, backbone.js[3] being the most popular recently. -- The 'store' module -- doesn't seem to provide anything interesting over jq-store[4]. And if you really want your data to stick around then there's evercookie[5] -- The 'pubsub' module -- was a little hard for me to understand the purpose of. Since it isn't actually about server messaging(?) but rather only a way of passing events inside the browser it seems like what you'd really want is either JavascriptMVC[6], Backbone[3], perhaps knockout[7], or the older chain.js[8], or maybe one of the other two dozen data binding plugins. Admittedly on this last one I may very well just be missing the point entirely. PubSub inside the browser? Huh? [1] https://github.com/RobertFischer/JQuery-PeriodicalUpdater [2] https://github.com/douglascrockford/JSON-js [3] http://documentcloud.github.com/backbone/ [4] http://medialize.github.com/jQuery-store/ [5] http://samy.pl/evercookie/ [6] http://www.javascriptmvc.com/ [7] http://knockoutjs.com/ [8] http://ajaxian.com/archives/chainjs-jquery-data-binding-service
  - 16y ago

cdeutsch 16y ago

Would love to see someone explain what this library does in simpler terms. I can't tell which terms are buzzwords, which are industry standard, and which terms are from their own internal vocabulary. PubSub? PubSub to what? Can you give some real world examples of when to use this library and what problems it solves.