Tom Whittaker
Satellites & Education Conference XXVII
Madison, WI USA
July, 2014
Interactive Applets
Does NOT mean clicking a button to
move from static page to static page
 Does NOT mean clicking or typing in
answers
 DOES mean:

 Students use buttons, sliders, click-and-drag
objects, etc. to change things
 Students can explore ideas, concepts, limits
Examples
My work with Steve Ackerman
He is a teacher and an advocate
 He is a techie-geek kind of person
 He likes to try new ideas
 He had a need to help students
understand concepts in weather

What we needed
What software does “every” computer
have?
 What do we need to do to accomplish
“interactivity”
 In 1998, what software development
environment claimed:

Write Once, Run Everywhere
The first one: Java
Started small
 “Native Widgets” – buttons, sliders, etc
 Conceptual hurdle – Object Oriented
 Applets run on the browser

What went wrong
“Native widgets”
 Ever growing and expanding runtime
 Some bad publicity about “security
issues”
 Memory limitations
 “Native widgets”

So long, Java, it’s been nice
knowing ya…

Why?
 Widgets, widgets, widgets
 Memory
 Versions keep changing rules
Who do you turn to in the mid 2000s?
 Adobe and ActionScript3

 Widgets look and feel the same
 No memory issues
 Oops – no multi-threading……..
Meanwhile….
Flash runs on 98% of all computers in
the world…until…
 Apple unleashes the iPad…

 Students start buying and using them
 Schools start buying them
 8 year olds start buying them
 Steve Jobs: “No Flash and No Java”
 “…but we have a solution….”

The HTML5 revolution
Just what is “HTML5”?

A stack of technologies:
 HTML version 5
 CSS version 3
 JavaScript
Most important for us: the “canvas”
element
 CSS helps regularize widgets
 JavaScript allows “programming”
 Very efficient runtime

The “only” problem
HTML version 5 is still not approved by
the W3C…
 …but everyone (even Microsoft) has
jumped on the bandwagon


Oh, and these are called “WebApps”
now and not “Applets”
JavaScript grows up
JavaScript has been around since the
mid 1990s
 It is not Java, but was influenced by the
Java syntax
 It was submitted for standardization in
1996 as “ECMAScript”

○ “JavaScript” is now a Trademark of Oracle
Corporation

Browser makers did not always agree
on function names, use, etc.
Why use it now?
Quite standardized
 Not “owned” by anyone
 Lots of support libraries
 Easy development
 Runtime engines are very fast (compile
to native code)
 Might be around for a few years

What are the issues?

A few cross-platform issues
 Testing on PC/Mac browser vs.
 Testing on Tablets vs.
 Testing on phones
HTML5 requires latest browsers
 No standards for “touch” devices – but
most browsers now use Apple’s
approach

Where to get them…

Just “google” for:
wxwise

Then click on the
HTML5 link

…or…