Mythic Logos

A new world is upon us. Already the web seems nearly magical in its many different uses, but within a year, this might look like the dark ages.

As HTML5 takes hold, everything seems like it will be simpler. And Flash free!

I have been reading HTML5 web programming on SafariOnline on my iPad. It is a good book; came out a week or so ago and is probably out of date already. I have already read about Canvas which is an old technology, but still exciting. More exciting is Websockets, a two way communication mechanism between server and browser. This makes a whole host of things possible that, I think, will not run into security problems and need for plugins.

So I wanted to experiment with it. I was all set to just use GoogleAppEngine. It uses Python and avoids SQL, which are two facts that I love. And it works and scales and is free until you have enough hits to pay the bills. Seems great. But there is no Websockets as far as I can tell and the infrastructure (no persistent program) suggests that perhaps it won’t.

So then I needed to choose something else. There are toy websockets which I will probably end up using, but what I really wanted was something that could function in production and I could play with. So what to use? Well, I want Python (though node.js is tempting out of a desire to just use one language, but I dunno know). So I looked at them, not too impressed. Then I come across Cyclone and Twisted. They look nice. So then I need to learn Twisted on top of learning Python and I need to choose a database now which should be no SQL cause I don’t like SQL. So then one needs to choose between mongoDB and redis for plug-n-play Twisted modules that are already out there.

Do you see where I am going? There is this promise of something wonderful out there, but one needs to learn so much: HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, jQuery+Mobile, Python, Twisted, Cyclone, MongoDB, and the interface of all of that to your server’s system. And the choices. Ouch. And if one wants to also still use GoogleAppEngine for the bulk of the work and just have this one separate server for the chatty apps, then there is that suite of stuff to learn (Python again, Django-esque templating and structuring, Memcache/Datastore, YAML)

The whole thing makes one’s head swim a little.  But nevertheless, I am excited. The possibilities are amazing and now is the time to finally make something awesome. This I vow to do, along with losing 20-30 pounds, becoming fit, and writing 2-3 books all before a baby comes along. Oh, and producing an amazing math idea so I can still squeak in under the age limit and get a Fields medal.

It will be a busy 7 months.