Recent Web Log Entries By Ben Nadel
REST API Design Rulebook By Mark Masse
Posted: February 2, 2012 at 9:57 AM by Ben Nadel
Over the weekend, I read The REST API Design Rulebook by Mark Masse . I absolutely loved this book! In a world where so many computer science questions are answered with, " It depends ," or, " there's no 'right' answer ," Masse comes through with a book that says, No, these are the rules - this is how you design a RESTful API. This book explores ... read more »
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A Book Apart: Responsive Web Design By Ethan Marcotte
Posted: January 18, 2012 at 10:31 AM by Ben Nadel
Last weekend, I read Mobile First by Luke Wroblewski . It was a compelling read that talked about the broader benefits of designing to the constraints of a mobile experience. At the end of his book, he suggested that Ethan Marcotte's book on Responsive Web Design would be a perfect compliment to the "mobile first" approach to web development. A... read more »
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A Book Apart: Mobile First By Luke Wroblewski
Posted: January 3, 2012 at 10:32 AM by Ben Nadel
As a web applications developer, I know that people use mobile devices to access my work; but, unfortunately, this fact is still a bit of an afterthought in my life. Typically, I create one version of software: desktop. And, since most smart phones can view this version with zooming and panning, I tend to concentrate on desktop iteration rather th... read more »
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A Book Apart: Designing For Emotion By Aarron Walter
Posted: December 5, 2011 at 11:01 AM by Ben Nadel
Over the weekend, I read Designing For Emotion by Aarron Walter - one of the "brief books for people who make websites" from the "A Book Apart" library. Aarron Walter, if you don't know the name, is the lead user experience designer behind the MailChimp web application. And, if you don't know him, you are more than likely familiar with Freddie V... read more »
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The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die By John Izzo
Posted: October 31, 2011 at 11:07 AM by Ben Nadel
A while back, I read The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before Your Die by John Izzo . I believe it was recommended to me by a blog reader; but I cannot for the life of me find the recommendation, so sorry for not thanking you. In this book, Dr. John Izzo distills the critical and commonly held beliefs present in the several hundred interviews he... read more »
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ColdFusion ORM: A Guide To Developing Applications Using ColdFusion ORM By John Whish
Posted: October 31, 2011 at 10:05 AM by Ben Nadel
Over the weekend, I finally got to read ColdFusion ORM: A Guide to Developing Applications Using ColdFusion ORM by John Whish . With the release of ColdFusion 9, Adobe has fully integrated Hibernate - the industry leader in Object Relational Mapping (ORM) - into the core language. With the release of the ColdFusion updater - 9.0.1 - a number of... read more »
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A Billion Wicked Thoughts By Ogi Ogas And Sai Gaddam
Posted: August 30, 2011 at 11:15 AM by Ben Nadel
Did you know that Tranny porn is targeted at straight men? Did you know that gay men typically prefer straight male porn? Did you know that a "squick" is the stuff that's too kinky to be called a "kink"? Did you know that women get really turned on by watching two men make-out? I don't know about you, but I didn't know a lot of this stuff; not unt... read more »
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JavaScript Enlightenment By Cody Lindley
Posted: July 26, 2011 at 10:42 AM by Ben Nadel
Two years ago, I read jQuery Enlightenment by Cody Lindley . I vividly remember being very impressed with how much information Cody had gotten across to the reader with such a concise book. Cody's explanatory style favors simple code over prose, leaving the reader with bite-sized examples that he or she can easily "grok" (as Cody might put it).... read more »
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Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding Of Happiness And Well-Being By Martin Seligman
Posted: June 27, 2011 at 10:48 AM by Ben Nadel
As a therapist, Martin Seligman (former president of the American Psychological Association - APA) discovered something very interesting: if you remove the unhappiness from a patient, you don't get a happy patient; rather, you get an empty patient. This is a huge cause for concern because psychology has, for a long time, focused primarily on remov... read more »
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JavaScript Web Applications By Alex MacCaw
Posted: May 30, 2011 at 10:24 AM by Ben Nadel
Last week at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, one of the presenters (assumedly Alex MacCaw ) mentioned that he had recently authored the book, " JavaScript Web Applications ." The book sounded interesting so I made a note to buy it off O'Reilly when I got home. And, let me just say that I'm glad I did because this book is awesome !!! Although i... read more »
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Javascript: The Good Parts By Douglas Crockford
Posted: May 18, 2011 at 10:31 AM by Ben Nadel
On my flights to and from cf.Objective(), I finally read Javascript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford . I went into this book with extremely high expectations. I've been hearing about "The Good Parts" for years. Written by the famous Douglas "Papa" Crockford, this book has been recommended to me countless times by many developers. With so much... read more »
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Man Down: Proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better At Everything By Dan Abrams
Posted: April 4, 2011 at 9:13 AM by Ben Nadel
This weekend, I read a small but provocative book, Man Down: Proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About EVERYTHING ELSE by Dan Abrams . At 36 chapters (about 2-3 pages per chapter) Man Down is succinct and straightforward about getting its ... read more »
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Eloquent Javascript: A Modern Introduction To Programming By Marijn Haverbeke
Posted: March 22, 2011 at 10:01 AM by Ben Nadel
As the title of the book indicates, Eloquent Javascript by Marijn Haverbeke is not so much about Javascript as it is about computer programming in the context of Javascript. And furthermore, the Javascript used in the book is completely outside the browser and the DOM (Document Object Model); aside from two short chapters at the end, the book ... read more »
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The Science Of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us By Sheril Kirshenbaum
Posted: February 23, 2011 at 9:36 AM by Ben Nadel
As a kid, I thought love was magical; as an adult, I still find love magical, albeit for a more robust set reasons. As science turns its lens on the human brain and continues to investigate the mechanical underpinnings of human emotion, we start to see a universe of complex machinery, feedback loops, hormone cycles, nerve endings, neurotransmitter... read more »
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Smashing jQuery By Jake Rutter
Posted: February 15, 2011 at 10:19 AM by Ben Nadel
If you've done anything with web development in the last couple of years, there's no doubt that you've heard of Smashing Magazine. Smashing' is one of the most trusted online magazines for web designers. They do have stuff that is relevant to developers; but, this is heavily skewed towards the front end, user experience, and interaction design end... read more »
