Re: RFD: How To Recognize Bad Javascript Code v0.3

In comp.lang.javascript message <RJ-dnaI8yOEa1hjaRVn_vwA@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Wed, 9 Jan 2008 17:34:28, Randy Webb <HikksNotAtHome@xxxxxxx> posted:
Dr J R Stockton said the following on 1/9/2008 8:52 AM:
In comp.lang.javascript message <Npqdnc-N5fxoTR7aRVn_vwA@xxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Tue, 8 Jan 2008 14:38:44, Randy Webb <HikksNotAtHome@xxxxxxx> posted:
Dr J R Stockton said the following on 1/8/2008 7:47 AM:

One should add that the result will look somewhat silly in Safari
3.0.4,
the current Windows beta (empty string); and that lastModified is a
misnomer because in practice it means "last uploaded to the server".
It is not a misnomer. It reflects the date the document you are viewing
was last modified. It has nothing to do with "uploading". The FAQ
index.html, while I have been editing the FAQ, has *never* been
uploaded. The date that document.lastModified gives is exactly that,
the date that the document was last Modified. Whether that modification
is by uploading a replacement, direct editing on the server, or by
being generated on the server.
Your lack of insight is most impressive.

Not near as impressive as your lack of the ability to understand simple
English.

When a document is, for whatever reason, re-uploaded to a server
(perhaps because of a change of server, for instance), it gets a new
Last-Modified header.

Precisely. And that is the date that lastModified reads. And it is
*precisely* what it is supposed to read. Any argument that says it
should read otherwise is just plain wrong.

Indeed, according to its definition. But not according to the meaning
of its identifier, and such identifiers should be correctly meaningful.
That corresponds to the meaning of "misnomer".


But if the content of the document, as seen by the user, is unchanged,
it is a disservice to assert that there has been a modification.

If you use document.lastModified (or the Last-Modified header), to
indicate that to the user, then you deserve what you get. Because that
is precisely the date it holds, the date it was last modified.
Irregardless of how/why it was modified.

That is how it is commonly used on the Web, displayed in a manner that
will be taken by the normal reader as implying a change of potential
significance to himself.

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