The Web Platform Podcast

Summary Danny Blue (@dee_bloo), Erik Isaksen (@eisaksen), and Tyler McGinnis (@tylermcginnis33) talk to Daniel Buchner (@csuwildcat) about the X-Tag project and some if its interesting features, such as mixins. We discuss the Web Component spec as well as the features that have been agreed upon and which ones may still need some work. Big companies like Google have thrown their full support behind the Web Components technology umbrella. Will others such as Microsoft follow suit? and what will it take for browser vendors to implement web components natively. Resources X-Tag on Github - https://github.com/x-tag X-Tag documentation - http://x-tag.readme.io/v1.0/docs X-Tag Boilerplate - https://github.com/webcomponents/xtag-boilerplate Mixin Example - https://github.com/x-tag/mixin-value/blob/master/src/main.js Web Components Bi-monthly Meetings - WinJS - https://dev.windows.com/en-us/develop/winjs Vorlon.js - http://vorlonjs.com/ Panelists   Erik Isaksen - HTML5 Google Developer Expert & F

Summary Polymer 1.0 is here! Lean mean and production ready. On episode 46 we talk to a Proverbial Packed Panel of Professional Polymer People. Polymer has grown a ton since its developer preview and has been streamlined for performance. A big show where we talk to a panel of both GDE’s and members of the Polymer team to get a better idea of just how this project has grown and why Polymer and web components as a whole are important for the modern and future web platform.   Guests Matt McNulty (@mattsmcnulty) - Technical Lead on The Google Polymer Team Taylor Savage (@TaylorTheSavage) - Product Manager on The Google Polymer Team Kevin Schaaf (@kevinpschaaf) - Engineer on the Google Polymer Team Justin Ribeiro (@justinribeiro) - Wearables & Chrome HTML5 Google Developer Expert Mauro Solicia (@smokybob84) - Google Developer Expert for Apps / Drive Uri Shaked (@UriShaked)  - Angular.js Google Developer Expert Jarom McDonald (@jarommcdonald) - YouTube Google Developer Expert Erik Isaksen (@ei

Identity is the missing link that connects all your users, apps, services, and devices to each other and the rest of the world. Christian Smith (@anvilhacks) is founder of Anvil Research (@AnvilResearch) and the creator of Anvil Connect, an open source authorization server built with Node.js to authenticate your users and protect your APIs.   Anvil Connect simplifies security when you have many apps and services to integrate. It acts as a broker between your apps, APIs, and a long list of OAuth providers like Google, Facebook, Twitter, and GitHub. The server works with apps written in any programming language that speaks HTTP. The code is MIT licensed and implements open standards like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, and JSON Web Tokens. Resources Open ID - http://openid.net/ Anvil Connect - https://github.com/anvilresearch/connect Anvil - http://anvil.io/ Anvil Gitter Channel - https://gitter.im/christiansmith/anvil-connect Open ID Connect - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenID_Connect Single Sign on

It can be overwhelming and, in some cases, downright scary to speak at events for many developers. Aaron Frost, co-organizer of ng-conf & Google Developer Expert, (@js_dev) talks with us about his experiences, mistakes, and triumphs while speaking at developer events as well as organizing them. Resources JavaScript Jabber 124 : The Origin of JavaScript with Brendan Eich - http://devchat.tv/js-jabber/124-jsj-the-origin-of-javascript-with-brendan-eich JavaScript Jabber 105 :  JsConf and Organizing Conferences with Chris Williams - http://devchat.tv/js-jabber/105-jsj-jsconf-and-organizing-conferences-with-chris-williams JavaScript Jabber 131 : Conferences & Meetups with Dave Nugent - http://devchat.tv/js-jabber/131-jsj-conferences-meetups-with-dave-nugent Writing proposals for speaking at conferences - http://weareallaweso.me/for_speakers/how-to-write-a-compelling-proposal.html One reason Raquel Velez rocks - https://twitter.com/rockbot/status/555163826400661505 Adventures in Angular 002 : A

Summary The world of JavaScript is a large one. AJ O’Neal (@coolAJ86), Podcaster & JavaScript Developer along with Netflix UI Architect & TC-39 Member, Jafar Husain (@jhusain) take us through opinions & facts about the state of the ubiquitous JavaScript language. Modern application development can daunting for developers just coming into web technology & JavaScript. Utilizing the latest & greatest in the language is not as easy as one might think and in some case it may be possible.   Then there are the transpilers & package managers. So many tools to polyfill or shim and features seems like more work than we’d want for a fast production project. Is it worth utilizing the benefits of ES6 & ES7? AJ & Jafar share with us what they think. Resources ES6 Support Table - http://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/ ES7 Support Table - http://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es7/ ES Discuss - https://esdiscuss.org/ Subscribe to the ES Summaries Mailing List - https://mail.mozilla.o

What is Social Engineering (SE) and why should developers care? It is the ability to manipulate. It is the power to influence, elicit, and misdirect. It is a means hackers can use, for better or worse, to breach or protect companies, start or stop cyber wars, commit or prevent cyber crimes, and steal or secure your data.   Social Engineer, hacker, & author Chris Hadnagy (@humanhacker) discusses the dangers technology companies & developers are exposed to everyday. Social Engineering has become an art form. It can be used to help or hinder others. Those that help prevent SE attacks like Chris are known as White Hats. Those that seek to harm and take from others with malicious intent are known as Black Hats.   To Black Hats, we are just obstacles standing in the way of their goals. These individuals will do whatever they must to get us to reveal our secrets. Most times we even do this willingly, without ever realizing we have been hacked until it’s too late. Seemingly trivial information to us may just

Jen Simmons (@JenSimmons), full stack designer & host of The Web Ahead Podcast (@TheWebAhead), takes us through what is means to contribute to and shape the ever changing landscape of the web. Jen produces an immense amount of free content from speaking engagements & training to podcasting that have reached all over the globe.   The Web Ahead guests have included some of the most influential people in web technology & design to date. Jen has had a major impact in the way we build and design for the web. Her uncanny abilities are almost akin to a unicorn in that she is extremely knowledgeable in both development & design. Good thing for us that Jen knows how to share her knowledge and help everyone have a chance to shape the future of the web. Upcoming Events with Jen Simmons San Francisco HTML5 Meetup  - http://www.meetup.com/sfhtml5/events/219966720/ An Event Apart - San Diego: aneventapart.com/event/san-diego-2015 An Event Apart - Washington, DC: http://aneventapart.com/event/washingto

Dan Shaw, Co-founder and President of NodeSource, and Mikeal Rogers, Creator & Curator of NodeConf & JSFest, join us to talk about io.js and node.js. It’s been awhile since the the forking of the Node project last Thanksgiving. Now, version 2.0 of io.js is about to release and many of us have more questions about the project.   Will the two projects reconcile or will they become separate entities? What future do we look to? Find out what we need to know and what we need to do to get ready. Resources io.js - https://github.com/iojs/io.js node.js - https://github.com/joyent/node io.js Goverance - https://github.com/iojs/io.js/blob/v1.x/GOVERNANCE.md#readme IRC - #io.js Proposal for reconciliation https://github.com/iojs/io.js/issues/1416 API docs - https://iojs.org/api/ nodesource - https://nodesource.com/ NG - https://github.com/iojs/NG The roadmap - http://roadmap.iojs.org Node.js Advisory on Github - https://github.com/joyent/nodejs-advisory-board Node.js Advisory - http://nod

Steve Newcomb, CEO at Famo.us, joins us for a second time with software engineer Michael O’Brien to talk about the changes in the framework. Moving toward what Famo.us calls “MIxed Mode”, which will debut in the upcoming framework 0.4 release, will allow developers to utilize the power of WebGL combined with the DOM. Essentially this means using the right tool for the right render target. “Mixed Mode” is not the only news Famo.us has to share.   As we know from episode 17 of our podcast, Famo.us is always pushing the boundaries of imagination and what is possible. The 0.4 release will also have front end containers very similar to Flash but with editing capabilities. Famo.us Hub, a new service being released, Famo.us JQuery Wdgets,  and so much more is almost at our developer fingertips.     Release 0.4 will be 25kb minified and provide an extremely versatile set of tools for us to use as developers. The biggest announcement though is quite simpler but very relevant….Famo.us is now MIT licensed! Resources

Rob Eisenberg (@EisenbergEffect) recently released a framework that focuses on standardization & swappable modules. Rob is no stranger to framework building, having created the popular JavaScript framework Durandal.js and more recently having helped develop Angular 2.   Aurelia has a great story. It uses ES6/ES7 JavaScript standards so you are coding with raw JavaScript. Templates use the template HTML tag and bindings are handled by pure JavaScript Template Strings. The framework itself is very barebones and can easily work with other libraries, frameworks, or modules outside Aurelia. This approach is very different than what we’ve seen from todays application or component frameworks.   Rob talks with us about this ‘spiritual successor’ project of Durandal, why it was created, and how it can be used today. Resources Aurelia.io - http://aurelia.io/ Aurelia Github Organization - https://github.com/aurelia Aurelia Framework - https://github.com/aurelia/framework Introduction Video - https://vimeo.c

John O’Nolan (@johnonolan), founder of Ghost, and Hannah Wolfe (@ErisDS), Ghost CTO talk about blogging and how the Ghost Project can make a difference in the blogging community. John gives a great overview of blogging and how Wordpress, the blogging giant, had become something totally different than what it had originally set out to be. Ghost was a response to the frustration of Wordpress and has since taken blogging to where, according to John, Wordpress should have gone.   Hannah & John share the project’s user experience and underlying concepts that can potentially aid developers in using Ghost to its full potential. They takes us through the technical details developers would need to get started as well as tips and great resources we can take advantage of. Resources The Ghost Blogging Platform - https://ghost.org/ The 2012 post by John O’ Nolan - http://john.onolan.org/project-ghost/ Ghost vs. Wordpress - http://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/resources/wordpress-vs-ghost Open Source Business - ht

Brian Leroux (@brianleroux), Adobe Phonegap Team Member & open source software developer, spends lots of time on the Apache Cordova and Adobe PhoneGap projects. Hailing from Canada, he loves his hockey and beer- maybe even more than coding. He has spoken at many conferences and is an expert in delivering & teaching mobile web development.   Brian goes into depth on the Phonegap project. Brian discusses how developers can get started building great mobile experiences with Phonegap. He also details the benefits / downfalls of different approaches to mobile development using web technologies as well as tooling, testing, and automation. Resources PhoneGap - https://phonegap.com PhoneGap Build - https://build.phonegap.com/ Ionic Framework - http://ionicframework.com/ Cordova - https://cordova.apache.org/ Introduction to PhoneGap Build - http://tv.adobe.com/watch/building-mobile-apps-with-phonegap-build/introduction-to-phonegap-build-building-your-first-app/ Kony - http://www.kony.com/ ReApp

React’s Virtual DOM (Document Object Model) & the browser DOM  are very different in their approach. Virtual DOM prefers to keep it’s logic and changes in JavaScript and eventually optimizes output to the browser DOM at the most critical moment that provides performance boosts while the browser DOM utilizes the traditional way of working with the document, accessing HTML directly, working with browser events, and manipulating state. The performance gains from a Virtual DOM approach are outstanding despite the fact that events, css, markup, and ‘all-of-the-things’ are stubbed, recreated, or handled in some way inside the JavaScript. Browser DOM, on the other hand, handles everything in the global document and leverages JavaScript, CSS, and other resources directly. Surely these approaches are not good to use together.   Wrong! Andrew Rota (@AndrewRota) & Denis Radin (@PixelsCommander) talk about the ways you can leverage both Web Components & React.js together in a symbiotic fashion. Denis, creator

Accessibility for web applications typically gets added at the end of development cycles with different tools and low priority. This ruins the experience for many users and generally causes a huge impact on the quality of code. Because many companies are not held to supporting the standards of Section 508, Web AIM best practices, and WCAG by their clients and the impact in ROI is hard to measure it usually doesn’t happen.   Karl Groves (@karlgroves), Accessibility Consultant at The Paciello Group , creator of Tenon.io, & viking web developer leads by example, being an unstoppable developer community advocate for integration of accessibility over supplementation. Tenon takes a very interesting approach in that it integrates with tools we already use. Karl goes through developer resources. Tenon, and how we can make Web Accessibility a ‘first class’ citizen in our applications by making it part of our workflow and a fully integrated part of our process. Resources Tenon - http://tenon.io/ Tenon Chrome Pl

React Week (reactweek.com)  is the premiere week long workshop focused solely on learning how to build applications in React.js taught by Ryan Florence. React is just the "V in MVC" so attendees will learn all about how to build full applications around React with the Flux architecture, React Router, Webpack, and Firebase.   Ryan isn’t the only top developer teaching at React Week. Lead Instructor, Tyler McGinnis (@tylermcginnis33) , chats with us about the React Week event, Firebase, Webpack, React and more. Tyler is no slouch when it comes to thought leadership. Not only is he joining our podcast for this episode but he is doing an episode of the JavaScript Jabber podcast and speaking at both Mountain West JavaScript, and ng-conf conferences….all in the next two weeks. Resources React Week - http://reactweek.com React Week on Twitter - https://twitter.com/reactweek Tyler’s personal site - http://tylermcginnis.com/ Mountain West JS - http://mtnwestjs.org/ ng-conf - http://www.ng-conf.org/ Javascr

The Internet Explorer team at MIcrosoft are making waves in the developer community. The Internet Explorer browser (AKA IE or Internet Exploder) has a long and jaded history. Newer developers may not recall, but fifteen years ago Internet Explorer was arguably THE best browser experience we had.  IE had some basic developer tools, it practically invented AJAX with its ActiveX Technology, and it was the standard that corporate web development was measured by. Then, something happened. Firefox was born.   The Firefox browser, created by Mozilla, in contrast to IE was rapidly developed and it worked with standards bodies to guide feature implementation. One key success factor for Mozilla was that Firefox was an open source community driven project. Microsoft did not follow the same philosophies as Mozilla in their development. They opted to continue using proprietary technologies and continued on the path that led them to success for so many years.   The community began to resent Microsoft & Internet Explor

What is Facebook’s React.js project? When it was announced at JSConf US 2013 it met mixed reviews. One question that might enter your mind is...as developer today in 2015, do I really need to know another framework? The short answer is “yes”. In episode 31 “Building with React.js” we talk with Facebook developer and TC39 member, Sebastian Markbage (@sebmarkbage) on building apps with React, React Native, React Conf 2015, what’s new in the framework, what the core concepts are, what the hype is all about, and much more.   Resources Sebastian Markbage: Minimal API Surface Area | JSConf EU 2014 -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4anAwXYqLG8 React - https://github.com/facebook/react Sebastian’s Github - https://github.com/sebmarkbage React blog - http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/ v.0.13.0 Beta update - http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2015/01/27/react-v0.13.0-beta-1.html Panelists   Erik Isaksen - UX Engineer at3Pillar Global Danny Blue - Front End Engineer at Deloitte Digital Nick Niem

We, as developers, consume so much information. We read blogs, use our social media to get the latest happenings, follow startup & corporate companies in the news, and we pull in so many libraries and frameworks that power our applications and reduce the amount of work we need to do. Many of us take it for granted that the libraries, frameworks, gists, codepens, blog posts, screencasts, podcasts, & books we consume are all someone elses hard work. That work probably required a lot of time & energy but more importantly, those community contributors took the mindset that others could benefit from their work. Why would they make it a priority to spend the extra time and effort doing this when they have their own deadlines & their own struggles? Surely these people must be crazy, right? Perhaps this is true...but what if it's not?   Who are the people that create for us? Why do they do it? What can we gain in our own work by delivering our own content to others? How can we help contribute? These a

The Reactive Extensions (Rx) is a library for building async and event-based programs using observable sequences & query operators. Developers can use Rx to represent asynchronous data streams with Observables and query those data streams using LINQ operators. Rx can  utilize Schedulers to parameterize concurrency asynchronous data streams.   Simply put, Rx = Observables + LINQ + Schedulers.   Rx comes in many flavors and there are a lot of resources out there. Microsoft has open sourced this interesting and powerful way to work with async data streams so that we can all contribute and benefit from its strengths & weaknesses.Matthew Podwysocki (@mattpodwysocki), Microsoft ‘Open Sourcerer’, demystifies the Rx realm and opens our minds to new ideas. Resources Reactive Extensions on Codeplex - https://rx.codeplex.com/ Reactive Extensions on Github -  https://github.com/Reactive-Extensions/ Intro To Rx Book -  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008GM3YPM/ React and Rx Examples - https://github.com/Reactiv

Gary McGraw (@cigitalgem), CTO of the security giant Cigital, chats with us about how web developers, and software engineers in general, can best secure applications we are building today. We dive into best practices, team collaboration techniques, where to go for further information, and what companies like Cigital are doing for the web security community. Resources Cigital- http://www.cigital.com/ The Silver Bullet Podcast - http://www.cigital.com/silver-bullet/ Web Application Security Consortium - http://www.webappsec.org/ Software Security - Building Security In - http://www.amazon.com/Software-Security-Building-In/dp/0321356705 NodeGoat - http://nodegoat.herokuapp.com/login RailsGoat - http://railsgoat.cktricky.com/ Gary’s books - http://www.cigital.com/~gem/books/ Charlie Miller Interview - http://www.cigital.com/silver-bullet/show-095/ OWASP - https://www.owasp.org/ Panelists Adi Chikara - ATG Lead at3Pillar Global Christian Smith - Open Source developer & Startup Enthusias