January 2015 Summaries

io.js emerged in response to concerns about declining contributions to Node.js, a popular JavaScript evented I/O runtime, despite its vibrant community. This fork of Node.js was created to address the issue by adopting an "Open Open Source" model, which encourages broader and more open participation in core repositories. This model allows individuals who make significant and valuable contributions to gain commit access, enabling them to contribute freely and fostering an environment similar to an open wiki rather than a traditional guarded open-source project. By facilitating more inclusive collaboration, io.js aims to revitalize community engagement and ensure the project's long-term vitality.

In a series of blog posts about building a chat application with Ember.js, the latest entry focuses on integrating encryption to enhance security in real-time communication using PubNub. The post explains how to implement Ember.js encryption alongside PubNub's transport-level encryption to ensure messages remain opaque and secure from third-party interception. By adding a simple configuration line to the PubNub initialization process, developers can easily enable secure communications within their applications. The post also highlights the advantages of using three-way data binding in Ember.js, such as end-to-end message encryption and periodic cipher key rotation. Additionally, it provides a quick recap of setting up PubNub and creating an Ember.js application, emphasizing the simplicity of enhancing security with minimal code adjustments. The blog encourages further exploration of PubNub's extensive features and offers resources for developers looking to deepen their understanding of Ember.js and PubNub integration.

JavaScript and the node module ecosystem have fostered a culture of building rather than merely configuring, allowing developers to create custom web servers, proxies, and databases. This shift is exemplified by Runtime.JS, an operating system kernel built on the V8 JavaScript Engine, which operates directly on hardware, specifically X86, instead of relying on traditional systems like Linux. Runtime.JS eliminates standard computer system components such as file systems and networking layers, highlighting a new approach where JavaScript interfaces directly with hardware.

This blog post introduces the integration of advanced presence and message persistence features in a real-time Ember.js chat application using the PubNub Ember.js library. It highlights the benefits of using PubNub's Presence API, which simplifies tracking user join, leave, and timeout events, crucial for building presence-aware applications without server-side code. The post provides a step-by-step guide on setting up an Ember.js application, initializing it with PubNub, and creating channels for user interaction. It also explains how to leverage advanced presence features, such as displaying user locations and using a collection-based API to automatically track channel memberships, enhancing the real-time chat functionality. The blog emphasizes the ease of using these features to keep user lists updated and notes the potential of the new presence API to track global channel subscriptions, enhancing user interaction across channels. Lastly, it encourages developers to explore further capabilities of the PubNub API through additional resources and documentation available on GitHub.

Atom.io is expanding its functionality by offering a tutorial on creating a real-time chat plugin using PubNub, which allows developers to engage in pair programming from any location. This tutorial guides users through assembling and implementing a custom Atom package using technologies like CoffeeScript, Less, and SpacePen, with the inclusion of loophole.js to address content security policy issues in Chrome. The tutorial provides step-by-step instructions on downloading, installing, and configuring the package with unique PubNub keys for real-time, uninterrupted collaboration. The process involves setting up Atom preferences and leveraging SpacePen for DOM manipulation, inspired by the slack-chat plugin. The goal is to enable simultaneous code editing and message sharing between users, facilitated by the PubNub real-time service.

The blog post introduces a tutorial for building a secret chatroom using Ember.js and the PubNub Data Stream Network, focusing on user detection and message persistence. It guides readers through setting up a simple chat application that allows users to see who is online, ensuring secure communication by preventing unauthorized access. The tutorial covers initializing an Ember.js application, creating channels, and implementing message and presence events using the PubNub library. By following the steps outlined, users can leverage the capabilities of the PubNub API to create real-time chat applications, with additional resources and documentation available for more advanced features.

The text is a tutorial on building a real-time chat application using Polymer, a JavaScript library based on Web Components, and implementing Material Design principles. It guides users through creating a chat app called "Kitteh Anonymous," emphasizing the use of Polymer 0.5.x and the PubNub Polymer component for real-time messaging. The tutorial covers installing necessary components using Bower, constructing the app's UI with Polymer Core and Paper elements, and employing PubNub for message broadcasting. It highlights the encapsulated, reusable nature of Polymer components, akin to Lego bricks, and introduces features like two-way data binding and custom elements. Despite being written before Polymer 1.0, the document provides insights into responsive design and data management, encouraging developers to explore further customization and native app conversion using PhoneGap.

Ensuring real-time interaction in multiplayer games is crucial for a seamless gaming experience, as demonstrated by Erik Hazzard's browser-based game Rect Rangle, developed for the Multiplayer Game App Challenge using PubNub Data Streams. Rect Rangle, built with HTML5, JavaScript, and an Entity Component System, involves players eating white squares to gain points and avoid black squares to maintain health, with PubNub powering all in-game notifications and interactions. When a player dies, their ghost, including their position, name, and score, is broadcasted to others, providing additional gameplay dynamics. PubNub facilitates real-time communication, including notifications, chat, statistics, and matchmaking, showcasing its capability to enhance multiplayer gaming features beyond just synchronizing player positions.

A real-time data stream is a continuous flow of JSON messages, transmitted in quick succession through a publish/subscribe (pub/sub) paradigm, where any device connected to the Internet can act as a publisher, and multiple subscribers receive the messages nearly instantaneously. The explosion of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, like cars, kiosks, and sensors, fits naturally into this model, allowing them to send and receive data efficiently. PubNub, a platform optimized for this paradigm, supports a wide array of use cases, such as stock price streaming, taxi dispatch systems with geolocation, real-time communication, and multiplayer gaming, by ensuring a global message delivery latency of under 100 milliseconds, even for millions of subscribers. With over 70 SDKs, PubNub simplifies the integration of real-time data streams across various platforms, making it feasible to develop applications that can handle large volumes of data with remarkable speed and reliability.

With the onset of winter, Maker Jason Poel Smith addresses the risk of freezing pipes by creating a DIY alarm system that alerts homeowners when temperatures drop below 32°F, using components like an Arduino Uno, a thermistor, an LED light, and a piezo buzzer. Documented in a MAKE: Magazine feature, the guide provides a step-by-step process for constructing this anti-freeze device. The project exemplifies the ease with which Arduino can be employed to design interactive IoT solutions, further enhanced by using PubNub for reliable and speedy data transfer between devices. Originally published on the Atmel blog, the post highlights Atmel Corporation's expertise in microcontrollers and its support for the growing DIY Arduino community.

Famo.us is a JavaScript framework designed to help developers create complex and smooth UIs within web browsers by offering an open-source 3D layout engine integrated with a 3D physics animation engine capable of rendering DOM, Canvas, and WebGL. The framework's "Mixed Mode" allows developers to enhance performance by offloading tasks to the GPU, such as rendering an orbiting orb with WebGL in a browser-based game or creating a robust drop shadow for web elements, which would otherwise be resource-intensive with CSS3. This blend of technologies facilitates the construction of high-performing, visually appealing applications directly within the browser environment, with Famo.us providing demos and resources for further exploration, including integration with AngularJS.

Traditional continuous integration (CI) processes often create bottlenecks in development due to the sequential nature of build pipelines, which can result in delayed feedback and prolonged problem resolution. The SF JavaScript Meetup highlighted a solution involving Meteor 1.0 and Velocity, which aims to reduce end-to-end build times, including UI tests, to under 10 seconds, thus integrating testing more closely with the developer workflow and expediting issue resolution. End-to-end testing, while comprehensive, traditionally takes longer to execute as it tests the entire system as a black box, but the Testing Triangle suggests prioritizing unit tests to reduce build times. However, advancements in frameworks like Velocity are making it possible to perform end-to-end tests quickly, providing timely feedback during development rather than serving as an occasional safety net.

The text explores the expansive field of the Internet of Things (IoT), contrasting it with Machine-to-Machine (M2M) technology and emphasizing IoT's broader integration across disparate systems to enable new applications. Unlike M2M, which often involves isolated sensor systems, IoT aims to connect these systems to provide a comprehensive view and fulfill business objectives not possible with individual M2M stacks. The article warns against the pitfalls that befell Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and suggests that IoT should adopt a model akin to the OSI network reference model to ensure practicality and flexibility. It stresses the importance of IoT security and proposes a practical approach to IoT, focusing on technology over marketing and advocating for flexible, scalable solutions. The text also hints at future practical demonstrations and tutorials to further explore IoT, encouraging the use of Atmel's tools and resources to innovate in the connected world.