I've been working on a large-ish Javascript project lately (still in stealth mode). One that could be described as a Javascript application. And since I've been up to my elbows in Javascript, I have found my contempt for the language waning. Not entirely, of course – I'm still a Python fan-boy. But enough for me to knock out a 3D(ish) spinning texture-mapped globe, using nothing but Javascript and HTML, as a way of honing my JS skills.

Without further ado, I present you with a 3D Javascript Globe.

This effect is off course a hack in the sense that it produces a novel result, but it still only makes use of standard browser capabilities.

One of the few geometry formulas that I have committed to memory is the relationship of the points on a circle and the radius: x^2 + y^2 = r^2 continue reading…