--- title: "This week's JavaScript news, issue 199" publication: "JavaScript Weekly" issue: 199 published_at: "2014-09-19" canonical_url: "https://javascriptweekly.com/issues/199" --- This week's JavaScript news, issue 199 Automating OS X with JS, sleep tracking with JS, Fluent CFP + more. — [Read this e-mail on the Web](http://javascriptweekly.com/issues/199) JavaScript WeeklyIssue 199 — September 19, 2014[The Significance of JavaScript for Automation in OS X Yosemite](http://developer.telerik.com/featured/apples-biggest-announcement-yet-isnt-phones-watches/) ‘JavaScript for Automation’ is a new feature in the forthcoming OS X Yosemite and makes JavaScript a first class language for writing automation scripts (as you’d usually use AppleScript for). There’s some [documentation](https://developer.apple.com/library/prerelease/mac/releasenotes/InterapplicationCommunication/RN-JavaScriptForAutomation/index.html) too. Burke Holland [Building A Sleep Tracker For Your Dog using Tessel and Twilio](https://www.twilio.com/blog/2014/09/building-a-sleep-tracker-for-your-dog-using-tessel-and-twilio.html) Tessel is a microcontroller that runs JavaScript, and this tutorial shows how to tie one together with a text messaging service to track how long your dog slept for. A fun, unusual use for JavaScript. Twilio [![Frontend Masters\](http://s3.amazonaws.com/nlga/uploads/item/image/27278/125.jpg)](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/javascript-frameworks-showdown/overview/?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=email)[Frontend Masters: New Course on Choosing a JavaScript Framework](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/javascript-frameworks-showdown/overview/) Brian Holt, front-end developer at Reddit, builds a web app and discusses the strengths of each of the four popular JavaScript frameworks: Ember, Angular, Backbone and React to help you understand which one is best suited to you and your next big project. _Watch a [free video](https://frontendmasters.com/courses/javascript-frameworks-showdown/overview/) on the internal mechanics of the frameworks._ Frontend MastersSponsor [Stack Overflow Introduces Runnable JavaScript, CSS, and HTML Code Snippets](http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2014/09/introducing-runnable-javascript-css-and-html-code-snippets/) The popular programming Q+A site now allows users to mark up runnable JavaScript code snippets, so linking out to something like JSFiddle for a live demo is no longer needed. [This question](http://codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/62577/bouncing-stacking-boxes) provides an example of the feature in action. Stack Overflow [Flow: Facebook's Forthcoming New JavaScript Type Checker](https://lobste.rs/s/fp9ibi) Not available yet but might be of interest to some. Flow is a static type system for JavaScript being built at JavaScript, it’ll be made available sometime in the coming months. Lobste.rs [O'Reilly Fluent 2015 Call for Participation Now Open](http://fluentconf.com/fluent2015/public/cfp/350) With over 1600 registered for 2014’s event, [O’Reilly Fluent](http://fluentconf.com/fluent2015) is a huge event on the JavaScript and Web Platform calendar, and if you want to speak at the 2015 event in San Francisco, you need to get your proposal in by October 27th. See you there! O'Reilly Jobs - [Software Engineer at Expensify (San Francisco, CA)](http://we.are.expensify.com/apply/?utm_source=javascriptweekly&utm_medium=email)We're looking for generalists with JS/jQuery and PHP experience. Do you hate expense reports with a passion? Want to meet us in Portugal for a month this fall and help us fight the war on expense reports. Apply today. Expensify - [Front-End Developer at Umbel (Austin, TX)](https://www.umbel.com/engineering/?source=Javascript+Weekly)Want to do big data at a small startup? We need world-class JavaScript developers to help us build our data visualization platform. Umbel - [Senior UI Engineer](https://www.linkedin.com/jobs2/cap/view/17055919?pathWildcard=17055919=job_capjs)Looking for a challenge? Tired of the usual nine to five grind? Want to spend your days with a team of creative, smart, and fun-loving people working toward a common goal? Love to wow an audience? Then check us out on [github/modeln](https://github.com/ModelN). Model N In Brief [React v0.11.2 Released](http://facebook.github.io/react/blog/2014/09/16/react-v0.11.2.html) news Facebook [Apple Shows Love for HTML5 (and JavaScript!) with iOS 8](http://www.sencha.com/blog/apple-shows-love-for-html5-with-ios-8) news Sencha [WinJS 3.0 Released: The Windows Library for JavaScript](http://blogs.windows.com/buildingapps/2014/09/17/winjs-everywhere/) news Windows Apps Team [5 Common JavaScript 'Tricks' Explained](http://blog.mdnbar.com/javascript-common-tricks) tutorial Boolean casting, string to number conversion, default values, void 0, and encapsulation. Janis [Using String Replace in JavaScript](http://davidwalsh.name/string-replace-javascript) Kyle Simpson [Building a Command-Line Reporting Task with JavaScript and Wakanda]( http://modernweb.com/2014/09/10/building-command-line-reporting-task-javascript-wakanda/http://modernweb.com/2014/09/10/building-command-line-reporting-task-javascript-wakanda/ ) tutorial ModernWeb [Concurrency in JavaScript, a Look at Web Workers](http://www.bytearray.org/?p=5607) tutorial Thibault Imbert [An Ember.js Introduction by Kasper Tidemann](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3sYt8PPHyI) video 25 minutes. YouTube [Delaying the $digest() cycle in AngularJS](http://www.aaron-gray.com/delaying-the-digest-cycle-in-angularjs/) Aaron Gray [How to Scale A Meteor.js App](http://joshowens.me/how-to-scale-a-meteor-js-app/) Josh Owens [Emerging Patterns in JavaScript Event Handling](http://www.sitepoint.com/emerging-patterns-javascript-event-handling/) SitePoint [Keeping Secrets with JavaScript: An Introduction to The WebCrypto API](http://timtaubert.de/blog/2014/09/keeping-secrets-with-javascript/) Tim Taubert [From Backbone To React: Our Experience Scaling a Web Application](http://www.techsonian.net/2014/09/from-backbone-to-react-our-experience-scaling-a-web-application/) Techsonian [Getting Started With React](http://www.tysoncadenhead.com/blog/getting-started-with-react) Tyson Cadenhead [5 Typical JavaScript Interview Exercises](http://www.sitepoint.com/5-typical-javascript-interview-exercises/) SitePoint [Transducers.js: A JavaScript Library for Transformation of Data](http://jlongster.com/Transducers.js--A-JavaScript-Library-for-Transformation-of-Data) code An extensive post with motivations behind its development and how to use it. James Long [MelchiorJS: The First Module Loader with Chainable Module Definition API](http://labs.voronianski.com/melchior.js/) code An alternative to RequireJS and AMD. Dmitri Voronianski [ForerunnerDB: High Performance NoSQL In-Browser Database](http://www.forerunnerdb.com/) code Uses a simple JSON-based query language based on MongoDB’s query language, persistently stores data across page loads, open source, but costs money for commercial use. ForerunnerDB [fartscroll.js: Makes Your Web Pages Fart As You Scroll](http://theonion.github.io/fartscroll.js/) code Yes, 100% silly but what else would you expect from The Onion! The Onion [denodeify: Tool to Turn Functions with Node-Style Callback APIs Into Functions That Return Promises](https://github.com/matthew-andrews/denodeify/) code node Matt Andrews [React Starterify: An Opinionated React JS Application Skeleton](https://github.com/Granze/react-starterify) code Maurizio Mangione [Intern: A Next-Generation Testing Stack for JavaScript](https://github.com/theintern/intern) code 2.1.0 released with new HTML and JUnit reporters, test filtering, and improved functional test performance. Intern [Paths.js: Generate SVG Paths with A High Level API](https://github.com/andreaferretti/paths-js) code Andrea Ferretti [Announcing JS Error Reporting + AJAX Timing in New Relic](http://blog.newrelic.com/2014/03/13/javascript-error-reporting-ajax-timing-new-relic/?utm_source=COOP=email=BlogNRBrowserAnnounce=PeterCooperNL=EM-COOP-generic-EN-100-HTML5Weekly-BlogNRBrowserAnnounce) Currently, 1.2m domains use the New Relic Browser monitoring tools to maintain a comprehensive overview of their browser page load times, throughput, browser transactions, JavaScript errors and Ajax timing. Find out how real-time insights help people build better performing software with New Relic. New RelicSponsor Curated by [Peter Cooper](http://twitter.com/peterc) and published by [Cooperpress](https://cooperpress.com/). Like this? 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