[thelist] Tip reimbursement (was [OT] Alcohol)

[Jonathan_A_McPherson at rl.gov]

> This is a web development list. In the guidelines we are urged to stay
> on topic, and when we diverge and get off topic, to 'pay' (ie: reimburse
> everyone for the time/bandwidth we consumed) with a tip.

You're right, and I apologize -- I do indeed owe. Two tips, one for this
post and one for the offending one:

<tip type="JavaScript" author="Jeduthun">
Most of the JavaScript I see written makes poor use of the semicolon as a
statement terminator, relying instead on JavaScript/ECMAScript's automatic
insertion rules. This is a bad idea for several reasons:

* It relies on the browser's implementation of ECMAScript to correctly
decide where the semicolons ought to be placed.
* It discourages you from understanding proper semicolon usage -- a skill
that you'll need if you want to learn Java, C++, C, C#, or any of the other
multitude of C-based languages.
* It makes your code harder to understand for those who don't know
ECMAScript but do know another C-based language.

Terminate your statements properly -- use semicolons. Everyone, including
you, will be happier in the long run.
</tip>

<tip type="Mozilla" author="Jeduthun">
Use Mozilla? Go to Web sites and find yourself asking "I wonder how they're
doing that" but are too lazy to go to the trouble to find where the source
code is for the effect (who wants to go to the trouble of searching for and
downloading external CSS or script files in the code)? Check out these
way-cool bookmarklets!

http://www.squarefree.com/bookmarklets/webdevel.html

They display all kinds of useful stuff about the page you're currently on:
the contents of all the stylesheets that are loaded, all the scripts that
are loaded, etc. Drag 'em to your browser's link bar and enjoy hours of code
voyeurism.
</tip>

--
Jonathan McPherson, LMIT/SD&I
Software Engineer & Web Systems Analyst
email / jonathan_a_mcpherson at rl dot gov