Tegu in Action

I just got carried away, responding to "another blog post":http://www.toohardtopronounce.com/code/2009/05/02/on-haml-and-jquery/. I spent enough time on that comment, I thought I'd post it here as well:

When I found HAML at its inception, I found something powerful that I couldn't explain. I told people it was because I didn't have as much noise in my templates, but there was something more powerful about it than just that. I've realized that simplicity is a form of power: it saves me time, but it also begins to unveil meaning to me.

A simple thing embodies the task at hand. The egg-shaped handle for a kitchen utensil, seems to say, "hold me." Quiet HAML seems to say, "shape meaning with me." As a handle is built for holding, I realize that template languages are for structuring. HAML invites me to engage in the meaning of a document by seeing the structure rather than the syntax.

And, I find that using HAML, I adapt my templates more quickly. That's partly because it's much more expensive to change HTML than to write it. HAML is easier to write, but MUCH easier to edit. If I move something with HAML, I don't have to chase down a closing bracket, somewhere else on a page. I just move the content I am working on.

The web is not HTML, it is a universal expression of meaning. We build web applications and pages because we mean something by them. HAML, then, didn't add an abstraction layer, it removed one. It did this by the laws of reduction: shrink, hide, and embody.

Yes, there are those pesky moments when I miss a space, or a tab sneaks into my white space somehow, and all hell breaks loose. I have to go and find out what's wrong before I can move forward. The act of keeping my HAML pristine, however, leaves me with a sense that I actually accomplished my purpose, I presented my meaning in a clean and orderly way.

jQuery seems to do the same. It is not Javascript, and so doesn't try to take over the Javascript space. It humbly offers its services, unless they are otherwise engaged. Non-jQuery objects become jQuery objects with a simple $() wrapper around them. Lists and single items behave in the same ways, so that unnecessary object inspection is hidden away from my code. The selectors simply embody most of the selectors I've already come to know. jQuery doesn't try to add layers, but remove them. It implements server communication through GETs and POSTs with $.get and $.post. It makes it as easy to extend the library as it is to use it. It presents itself as a designed library, rather than just a slipshod collection of methods and features.