Building Blocks 2.0

Paul’s post on Ajax for the Common Coder touched on the core of Web 2.0 development – you just can’t build a community fast, unless you’re building with the community. In time 2.0, the difference between borrowing the barrow or reinventing the wheel is the same difference between leapfrogging, or being left behind.

Wiki’s and the like accelerated the development of Open Source software. Now come a new breed of community resources.

• Snipplr is a public repository that lets you store, tag, and share any code you use. It has a nifty Textmate bundle plugin that lets you insert your favorite code without having to open a browser.
• Code Snippets is another repository. With 3930 users tagging and storing code, that’s an awesome amount of brainpower on tap!
• Script.aculo.us provides you with Javascript libraries to make your web development fly. Check out the drag and drop to your shopping cart article.
• And – using Web 2.0 to blog about Web 2.0 – here’s a Blinklist of cool web programming resources.
• Looking for that elusive bit of code? Tagging is one option, but how would you like to search for it instead? Koders.com. Their tagline reads “Searching 424,227,372 lines of code” – Enough, or still want more.

But then, maybe you’re just a wanna-be geek. Not yet into coding, but looking to learn. Get over a hundred links to AJAX tutorials, starting from the ubiquitous “Hello World”. Or use Blinklist once again.

With all the resources available, there’s no wonder you find Web2.0 startups springing up every minute. In a sense, there’s nothing new in this process – to quote Sir Isaac Newton, “If I have seen farther than others it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants” .

With shades of Archimedes : “Give me a large enough community and the tools on the internet, and I’ll create Web2.0″

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