##Back at it
First day back after a mini-break (1 week). That off week felt short and long all at the same time.
It was long because Hack Reactor got me accustomed to learning so much in a short period. Time slowed down.
It was short because I felt like I had some goals and things I wanted to finish, but I didn’t. Family and friends and you know, that thing called life got in the way.
Overall, I am glad there was a break. It is important to see your support network whenever you can. Keep it balanced.
Highlights of the day:
- Ajax
- XSS
Ajax
Ajax (Asynchronous Java and XML) is a group of technologies that allow client-side applications to utilize data that isn’t synchronized with the remote server. This allows applications to make requests for data and to operate on that data when it is ready, without holding up the app.
We started a new sprint using this to build a chat application. This is an expansion of the pre-course work and has been illuminating as to what is achievable with this. Ajax server calls are actually pretty fun.
More to come.
XSS
This is the big highlight of the day for me. XSS stands for cross-site scripting.
Basically this boils down to the following: anytime a website accepts user input in a text field, there is a possibility that the user can enter malicious code that will inject and execute Javascript on the website and server. This has potential to reveal secure information about users and sessions.
I knew that security was important, but I never realized the depth of it. Any collected user information has to be cleaned, or escaped, to ensure that it does not contain executable code. Read more about escaping here: http://wonko.com/post/html-escaping.
Tweet Follow @zdlopez