The time has come for the second TwitCode challenge. Yes, I just made up the name *after* the first challenge.

And I’ve also made a slightly more formal TwitCode home page that explains the basic rules which apply.

This challenge is much like the first one, but this time I have made jQuery available. I’ve also changed the structure of the target page a little. It’s not as sparse as last time.

And this time I have two Sitepoint books up for grabs: Modern Web Design Using Javascript and Dom”, and “Designing Without Tables”. These books are second hand, having been much read by me. But I haven’t looked at them in a while, so perhaps it’s time for somebody else to get their chance. And in case you were wondering, the winner takes all. There’s no second place. I’ll pay the postage to send both books to the winner.

So the deal is you must submit the most fun / interesting self contained JavaScript code that fits inside 140 characters, so that it can be posted via Twitter. The 140 character limit must include addressing. It can be sent directly to me via Twitter by addressing it to @nedlud (my Twitter handle), or by including the more generic hash tag #JS

I’ll watch the #JS tag on Twitter and assume that any posts that look like pure JavaScript are entries.

The only change to the basic rules for this challenge is that the jQuery library is available.

All entries will be tested on this page, using Firefox 3.5 and jQuery 1.3.2. (not IE)

I’ll leave the challenge open for 1 week, starting today (12 July 2009), so next Sunday (19 July 2009) will be the cut off.

Start your interpreters..

After 1 week, we have a winner. @tonymilne wins my copy of The Art and Science of JavaScript. It will be in the mail shortly.

You can see his winning entry, and the other entries, at http://js.bluestoneit.com/first.php

I have too many JavaScript books, and I just bought a new one, so I want to get rid of some old books.

The first one on offer is the Sitepoint book “The Art and Science of Javascript“. This is a great book, and the chapter on Meta-programing rocks.

So how do you get your hands on this free book?

I only have one copy, so I have to find some way of choosing who to give it to. And I want to make if fun. So how about a little competition?

Send me a JavaScript file, and the one I like the best, wins! I’ll even pay the postage.

How will I judge? Err.. I like fun things. If it makes me smile, you’re in with a chance.

I’ll run the code in this page to test it, and just in case you were wondering, there are no frameworks to leverage off. Your code must be completely self contained. And I’ll test with Firefox 3

What’s the catch?

Of course there is one. The catch is that you have to send me your JavaScript via Twitter. That’s right, it has to fit inside the Twitter 140 character limit, and I guess that includes addressing it. My Twitter handle is @nedlud. But to save a little space, I think I’ll allow a #JS tag. Include #JS in your code (*instead* of address it to @nedlud) and I should be able to find it on Twitter. The #JS tag seems to get a fair bit us use, so I’ll look for things that look like pure JavaScript code only. I’ll DM the winner so I can get a mailing address from them.

Use @nedlud if you want to be sure I get it.
Use #JS if you need to save those extra 4 characters.

Since it’s Twitter, and everything is so *now*, I’m only going to leave this little competition open for one week. Today is Saturday 13 June, so I’ll take submissions only up to Saturday 20 June.

Good luck.