Inside the Calculators – Part I – Javascript

I recently gave a brief overview of my permanent disability and workers’ compensation benefit calculators. In that post I wrote a little bit about how my website calculators work.

In late 2004 I spent some of my free time working on a calculator for the 1997 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule 100% pure javascript (the only programming language I knew at the time). I had several reasons for never publicly releasing this calculator:

• Uniformity. Not all computers and browsers perform all javascript functions the same way.
• Speed. A pure javascript calculator would require the user to download all of the code – not just the parts they needed.
• Protection. Anyone with a modicum of technical knowledge could simply downloaded the calculators, and then post it as their own.
• Obsolete. With SB 899 and the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule, my calculator became nearly obsolete. I scrapped it rather than building a second calculator.

The current workers’ compensation benefits calculators use very very little javascript. Doing so has meant that I don’t have to worry about different computers/browsers, users only need to download the code they need to run a single calculation, and my calculators don’t work without my server.

Next up, PHP!