Yeah, so I like to tinker around with CSS3/HTML5 and JavaScript. I have a lab now for that.

• Simple class interface that I can instantiate with new Classname
• Public functions/members
• Private functions/members
• Priveleged functions/members
• Static functions/members

Lately I’ve been using JavaScript functions as class objects and utilizing private, priveleged and static members and functions to my hearts content. Let me share.

Disclaimer: I don’t consider myself a JavaScript guru, nor do I think that this is the best solution evar known to mankind. If you have a snooty comment to say, please don’t leave it here. If you have a piece of constructive criticism or have better methods, do tell. I’d love to hear what you use. If your JavaScript knowledge is more l33t, then by all means, humbly share.

A Basic Class & Instance

function MyClass () {
//...
}
var oClass = new MyClass();

Public Member Variables & Functions

Public functions and variables are available to access on an instance of a class.
function MyClass () {
//..
}

//public member variable
MyClass.prototype.publicVar = "My Public Variable";

//public member function
MyClass.prototype.publicFunction = function () {
alert( this.publicVar );
}

//create an instance
var oClass = new MyClass();

//run a member function
oClass.publicFunction(); //Alert: "My Public Variable"


Private Member Variables & Functions

Private member functions and variables are hidden to outside code. Only public functions can access them.
function MyClass () {

//reference to this
var self = this;

//private member variable
var privateVar = "My Private Variable";

//public member variable
this.publicVar = "My Public Variable";

//private member function
var privateFunction = function () {

self.publicVar += " Modified By A Private Fucntion";

alert( self.publicVar );

}
}
//create an instance
var oClass = new MyClass();

//run a private member function
oClass.privateFunction(); //private function is undefined

//get a private member var
alert( oClass.privateVar ); //private var is undefined


Static Member Variables & Functions

A static function or variable is available on the base class (or JavaScript) function, but is not available to the class instance.
function MyClass () {
//...
}

//declare a static member
MyClass.staticVar = "My static variable";

//declare a static function
MyClass.staticFunction = function ( pInput ) {
return new MyClass( MyClass.staticVar , pInput );
}

//create an instance
var oClass = new MyClass();

//run a static function (NO access to private or public)
oClass.staticFunction( 9 ); //staticFunction is undefined on an instance
//run a privileged member function on the class
MyClass.privilegedFunction(); //The function runs


Priveleged Member Variables & Functions

A privileged member function has access to private variables, but is available publicly.
function MyClass () {

//private member variable
var privateVar = "My Private Variable";

//privileged member function
this.privilegedFunction = function () {
alert( privateVar );
}
}
//create an instance
var oClass = new MyClass();

//run a privileged member function
oClass.privilegedFunction(); //Output: alerts the value of the private var



These classes may come as news to you…or maybe you’ve known about them since you were a fetus. In either circumstance, they’ve been a big help to me.

Word up.

I’d like to announce a project that I have been working on over the past couple of months: Dailymugshot.com. I designed the site and all interface widgets for Keith Gould, the owner and mind behind the site. Dailymugshot is a site, inspired by YouTube videos, where people took a picture of themselves every day for years. The result is this phenomenal video where you can see people aging, changing, going through different fads, etc. It’s really pretty cool.

The videos seem great, but would take tremendous dedication to keep it up – you might think that this seems a pretty daunting task. I personally don’t have the ambition to take my picture every day, line them up, animate them and create a movie out of them. The cool thing is that Dailymugshot takes all of the hard work out of it for you, even reminders – thats right, they have a reminder application for both win and macs, so you don’t have to remember to take your mugshot.

I think that this very sweet web application is gonna take off. I think it is creative, fun and becomes what you make of it. You want to wear a different outfit each day – cool. Are you losing weight and want to see how much your face/body thins out over 2 months? Great. Do you want to show your friends on MySpace what you look like every day? Use Dailymugshot.

Mad props go out to Keith for building this and having the ambition to do it. He has worked long, hard and late hours to pull this project off. If you think its cool, I’m sure he’d love a shout out to keep him going.

P.S. The site just went live and the cutest boy in the world in the picture above is my son, Jameson.