By Marc Johnson
This is a book about writing exciting Web pages with JavaScript. Before JavaScript or its ancestor, LiveScript, Web pages were written in HTML. The pages could be very sophisticated in their layout, but they just sat there. JavaScript can make your Web pages come alive. Your Web pages can now be dynamic, changing before the user's eyes. JavaScript can make your Web pages both more interesting and more fun.
JavaScript isn't very difficult to learn. I myself picked up the basics in a matter of hours. You can, too.
You don't need to read this book cover to cover, and you don't have to read the chapters in any particular order. Skip around, read what seems interesting, and write some code. It's the best way to learn. You will need a copy of Netscape Navigator, preferably version 2.01 or later, but that's all. I use WebMania! to write some of my code, because it takes care of a lot of the details that I might forget, but all you really need is a simple ASCII text editor-vi, emacs, Notepad, whatever.
This book is divided into three parts. The first part includes three chapters. Chapter 1is a quick introduction to JavaScript that describes what it is and where it came from. Chapter 2explains what JavaScript is good for, outlining what you can do with it. Chapter 3 lets me get up on my soapbox and do a little preaching about what makes a good Web page, what makes a bad Web page, and what you can do to keep your pages on the good list.
The second section consists of six chapters, all of which contain a complete JavaScript Web page. Each chapter introduces a problem, demonstrates how you might solve it without JavaScript, and then shows how you can craft a much better solution with JavaScript. These chapters all conclude with some thoughts on how you can enhance the solution and how you can adapt the techniques to creating your own Web pages with JavaScript. In every chapter, the JavaScript code is discussed in depth, function by function. No mysteries; there's no one behind the curtain. If you don't understand something about the code, write me at marcj@nando.net. I'll be glad to answer your questions!
Finally, the third section contains six appendices, chock full of useful reference material: the character set, reserved words, a review of HTML, the JavaScript operators, JavaScript's built-in objects and functions, and online resources. Again, if there's something I missed, write me. I want to help.
JavaScript isn't very difficult to learn. I myself picked up the basics in a matter of hours. You can, too.
You don't need to read this book cover to cover, and you don't have to read the chapters in any particular order. Skip around, read what seems interesting, and write some code. It's the best way to learn. You will need a copy of Netscape Navigator, preferably version 2.01 or later, but that's all. I use WebMania! to write some of my code, because it takes care of a lot of the details that I might forget, but all you really need is a simple ASCII text editor-vi, emacs, Notepad, whatever.
This book is divided into three parts. The first part includes three chapters. Chapter 1is a quick introduction to JavaScript that describes what it is and where it came from. Chapter 2explains what JavaScript is good for, outlining what you can do with it. Chapter 3 lets me get up on my soapbox and do a little preaching about what makes a good Web page, what makes a bad Web page, and what you can do to keep your pages on the good list.
The second section consists of six chapters, all of which contain a complete JavaScript Web page. Each chapter introduces a problem, demonstrates how you might solve it without JavaScript, and then shows how you can craft a much better solution with JavaScript. These chapters all conclude with some thoughts on how you can enhance the solution and how you can adapt the techniques to creating your own Web pages with JavaScript. In every chapter, the JavaScript code is discussed in depth, function by function. No mysteries; there's no one behind the curtain. If you don't understand something about the code, write me at marcj@nando.net. I'll be glad to answer your questions!
Finally, the third section contains six appendices, chock full of useful reference material: the character set, reserved words, a review of HTML, the JavaScript operators, JavaScript's built-in objects and functions, and online resources. Again, if there's something I missed, write me. I want to help.