Properties, methods, and the elusive this oh my what’s a developer to do? Read this guide to writing elegant object oriented (OO) JavaScript I respond!

Learning to write elegant JavaScript is important to your career as a developer. With the advent of technologies such as Node.js you can now write JavaScript on the server side, likewise you can even use JavaScript to query a persistent data store like MongoDB.

So let’s get started writing some OO JS. If you have any questions or I missed something please leave me a message in the comments.

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Today Google is celebrating Robert Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer who was born on this day in 1934. Not only is this a cool doodle with the logo hidden in the synth’s various mixer, oscillator, filter and envelop knobs, but you can actually play and record music on it too! Looks like we won’t actually be searching for anything today.

We challenge you to record a short track and send it our way. The best one will win a sweet little gift pack including a pair of Urbanears Plattan Headphones and an exfm tee. You can tweet the song url at us with the hashtag #moogcontest or leave us a link to the url in the comments section. Good luck!

User Spotlight

Wick

What is one of your favorite/most magical musical experiences?

This is a tough one, but I’d have to say my first Phish show, which was a festival (named The Clifford Ball) on August 16th and 17th, 1996. It really was life-changing. The festival was held on the decommissioned Plattsburgh Air Force Base in upstate New York. Even though I followed the Grateful Dead for years, the scene and music that weekend blew me away. In my humble opinion, the mid-90s were Phish’s prime years and they did not disappoint that weekend. Even though I didn’t know half of their catalog back then, I was amazed at the performance and the energy. They played three sets the first day and then in the early morning hours, the band hopped on a flat bed truck and played for about 45 minutes as the truck drove slowly through the campgrounds. Another three set show on the 17th followed with an additional set by the full orchestra as the sun went down over the Adirondacks.

The scene and festival grounds were nothing like anyone had ever seen to date. The Clifford Ball and the Phish festivals that followed were the model for Bonnaroo and many other festivals that have popped up over the last 5 to 10 years. Phish built its own little village on the concert site for fans to explore before, during, and after the shows.

Most importantly and the reason why it is my most magical musical experience is the friendships I’ve made since the Clifford Ball. I went with 5 friends from college, some were better friends than others, but since that time in New York we have been the best of friends. We attended the next two Phish festivals in 1997 and 1998 and have seen countless Phish shows since, but more importantly we have grown up together in our 20s, 30s, and now beginning our 40s. We have all been a part of each other’s weddings. We get together for our kids’ birthday parties. We have family vacations together. We are family, and it all started with The Clifford Ball. In addition, the friendships I’ve made with others over the past 16 years because of Phish is truly magical.

If you had to pick a favorite artist(s) who would it be? (tough one I know)

Well obviously Phish is one of them, but also Radiohead, Fleet Foxes, Deerhunter, The War on Drugs, Neil Young, and the Grateful Dead.

If you had to share one artist right now who would it be? Why?

Just one? Wow. Well, I’d have to say Alabama Shakes. Exfm actually introduced them to me last fall and then I caught them live in Charlottesville and again at SXSW a couple weeks ago. The obvious reason for my recommendation is Brittany Howard. The emotion she expresses on stage is real. That’s what I love about her and this band. Everything is authentic. Their music rocks too, of course.

What genres of music are you into most?

Indie, Jambands, and Dad Rock

Anything else music related, hobby related, or whatever related you’d like to share?

I am a music geek. I love when tech intersects with music and that’s one of the reasons why I love exfm. I also worked in the music business from 2001-2005 for Musictoday as they experienced phenomenal growth. It was a wonderful experience to work in an industry that I loved. I still get an opportunity to dabble in the music business now with my own tech startup, Business Bullpen, which creates web and mobile solutions for clients all over the country.

Recently Loved Tracks from Wick:

And be sure to check out his blog Wick.me. It’s good stuff. Thanks Wick!

If you’d like to be featured or have someone you think should be drop us a line

I rarely, if ever, put a post on here that isn’t music. But I’ve been getting lots of new followers lately (thanks guys!) and I thought I’d point out a few other ways you can subscribe to the music that isn’t through your Tumblr dashboard.

In the bottom right-hand corner, there an ex.fm tab. Clicking on that plays all the songs posted. You can shuffle, love, and share songs through there. You can also follow Almost Mainstream on ex.fm at ex.fm/almostmainstream.

Trntbl.me/almostmainstream also let’s you play all the songs, and shuffle them up. If you have your own Tumblr, you can do the same thing– trntbl.me for info.

And this past weekend, Almost Mainstream was added to the directory of Shuffler.fm. Shuffler is a service where you can subscribe to various music blogs and listen to them in what they call a “music magazine”-type service. There’s lots of good stuff on there. You can subscribe to this blog by clicking here.

There’s also RSS, Facebook, and Twitter. Every time I put up a new post, it goes up on those services. You don’t really get any added value, it’s just so you can follow along on whatever service you prefer.

Oh, and if you use Rdio, Last.Fm, This Is My Jam, the Hype Machine, Soundcloud, CBC Music, or Ex.fm I’m pretty active using my personal accounts. So yeah.

Thanks for listening!