JSApp.us Shutdown

This post is a few weeks late, however JSApp.us has been shutdown. At the time that JSapp was first released, it was the first open node.js hosting platform. It featured an easy to use web based code editor (which was extremely useful at the time as developing node.js on windows was fairly difficult and required compiling code yourself). The system also provided CNAME support as well as subdomains for quickly developing demonstrating applications. There was even a command line client which allowed for quick deployments from the command line and uploading and downloading files from ones file system.

At last, JSApp’s time has come to an end. It has seen no major updates since 2011 (source) and the state of developing Node.js applications has moved on with new API’s (that were not supported by JSAPP) as well as new compile to JavaScript languages (which were also unsupported by JSApp).

Given the abundance of alternate Node.js hosting options and the age of the system, it seems that essentially all users have already migrated off the platform, so this change is unlikely to been disruptive. The source will remain available on github if anyone interested in some of the internals, however given how dated the system is, I am assuming that there are better solutions today for nearly all aspects of the system.

jsapp screenshot

The unPacker again

The JavaScript unPacker is getting a lot of attention and I do not think that every one understands it. The unPacker was made to make code that was packed by the /packer/(with base62) human readable again. 99% of the code that comes out works without any changes, then running the code through FireFox with Firebug you should be able to easily find the error and fix the code. When I was testing the unPacker, I was unpacking jQuery, there would be about 3 error in the code, but I was able to find the error and fix the code in under 5 min with Firebug. (jQuery packed is about 32KB and about 52KB minified and it was designed to be able to be packed).
All the problem that I have heard about the unPacker I think are counter with what it is and can be used for. The basic idea was to be better that the replacing the eval with an alert to get all of the JavaScript in one long line. (jQuery in an alert is about 50,000 Character in one line)

The forum that I follow related to the unPacker.
The unPacker.

Ubiquity

I have made another Appjet web site. This time it is for making Ubiquity commands and being able to distribute them at the click of a button. It is free and easy to get going with a small simple command. If you do not have Ubiquity yet then you can try it at http://labs.mozilla.com/projects/ubiquity/. Then head over here to get some new commands to try out.

So far I have the Ip-get app, that will determine your Ip address. “Quote” that gets a quote from my quote Appjet site and can insert it in to any text field.

Appjet and Agrid

I have found a new way of doing small simple web applications. It is through a web service called Appjet. Appjet host web apps written in JavaScript, they have made there own little way of doing thing but it works out well enough to make something worth while. To try out there system I made a simple ads grid (you and someone else trade ads on your web sites(s) to get more views). It is about 90 lines of JavaScript, and from the test that I have run, it works well enough to maybe drive a few more viewers to your site.

Net DataBase in javascript

I do not know who cares but I have had this for some time. It is a small network database in JavaScript. It is base on Taffydb. It syncs the data through the freewebs jjax base shout box system. I do not know what the limit is on the data base, I think that at some point freewebs would turn of your shout box but I do not know. I have a demo here. Your name is enter in to the data base. You could also use globalStorage to save some data on the clients computer. Because all of the data is over HTTP Get request I think that each cell would have about a 500 bite limit.