Before we get started, I’m going to ask a question: what was the second generation iPhone called? That’s right motherfuckers, it was called the iPhone 3G. There’s a 3 in there, but that doesn’t make it the third version.

Since then, they’ve released a new version of the iPhone every year with hardware and software upgrades. Yes, the 3G and 3GS were a year apart and had fairly significant hardware differences.

This year, the trend continues. We have hardware and software upgrades. Apple works hard all year, redelivers Jesus in a pocket (possibly subjective) and yet, people are whining about the lack of a new iPhone.

Well guess what, there is a new iPhone, they just didn’t call it the iPhone 5. This is like when you take a sip of your root beer and realize it was someone else’s Coke. Just because they look the same doesn’t make them the same.

The only difference here is that everybody in the world has already realized that root beer sucks.

I am making this post for the sole reason of saving someone the mindfuck this has caused me.

PhoneGap javascript files differ per platform. Using the wrong javascript file will prevent “deviceready” from ever being triggered.

Perhaps this goes without saying, but the phonegap-(version).js files are not interchangeable between the iOS package and the Android package, etc.

Work has allowed me to begin development for our mobile app on iOS (which I am excited for, even though it’s a small project). The “www” folder (as PhoneGap devs will recognize) lived inside a Git submodule which was previously used to develop for Android.

nonononononono.

Needless to say, I spent a good hour or two digging through JavaScript looking for what might be the Carmen Sandiego of syntax errors. Despite using the accepted-but-unacceptable methods of debugging JavaScript for PhoneGap, I uncovered nothing.

It was only until I completely stripped the app of everything but a “Hello World” and the PhoneGap javascript file that I realized it was the culprit.

A professional developer carries certain expectations:

• Meeting deadlines.
• Accurately estimating timelines.

When I first began programming, none of these things were a concern for me. It was easy for me to bunker down in my room with cans of soda, pizza, and my keyboard filled with traces of the aforementioned items.

I could try new things, make mistakes, and nobody was going to have a problem with that and nobody was going to care if it ended up taking much longer. This sort of mentality was extremely conducive to growing.

At some point during my professional career, I became blinded by the goals of my employer and had forgotten to set my own. Hacking together a solution quickly was commonplace and sometimes warranted by my management overlords, because while it wasn’t the best solution, it was good enough. I became complacent and lost sight in the importance of keeping up with new technologies.

It’s now been about six months since I left that position. In that time, I’ve fallen in love with Ruby (now imagine going from PHP4 to Ruby), learned Rails, discovered the magic of Heroku, dabbled with Amazon’s services, moved over completely to Git, and among other things.

I’ve been a little behind, but it feels good to finally be caught up again.