JavaScript

Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been developed and released in a hurry before it could be refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more reliable, readable, and maintainable than the language as a whole-a subset you can use to create truly extensible and efficient code.

Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas, like a programming model based on global variables.

When Java applets failed, JavaScript became the language of the Web by default, making its popularity almost completely independent of its qualities as a programming language. In JavaScript: The Good Parts, Crockford finally digs through the steaming pile of good intentions and blunders to give you a detailed look at all the genuinely elegant parts of JavaScript, including:

• Syntax
• Objects
• Functions
• Inheritance
• Arrays
• Regular expressions
• Methods
• Style
• Beautiful features

The real beauty? As you move ahead with the subset of JavaScript that this book presents, you'll also sidestep the need to unlearn all the bad parts. Of course, if you want to find out more about the bad parts and how to use them badly, simply consult any other JavaScript book.

With JavaScript: The Good Parts, you'll discover a beautiful, elegant, lightweight and highly expressive language that lets you create effective code, whether you're managing object libraries or just trying to get Ajax to run fast. If you develop sites or applications for the Web, this book is an absolute must.

JavaScript lets you supercharge your HTML with animation, interactivity, and visual effects—but many web designers find the language hard to learn. This jargon-free guide covers JavaScript basics and shows you how to save time and effort with the jQuery library of prewritten JavaScript code. You’ll soon be building web pages that feel and act like desktop programs, without having to do much programming.

The important stuff you need to know:

• Make your pages interactive. Create JavaScript events that react to visitor actions.
• Use animations and effects. Build drop-down navigation menus, pop-ups, automated slideshows, and more.
• Improve your user interface. Learn how the pros make websites fun and easy to use.
• Collect data with web forms. Create easy-to-use forms that ensure more accurate visitor responses.
• Add a dash of Ajax. Enable your web pages to communicate with a web server without a page reload.
• Practice with living examples. Get step-by-step tutorials for web projects you can build yourself.

Do you want to build web pages, but have no previous experience? This friendly guide is the perfect place to start. You’ll begin at square one, learning how the Web and web pages work, and then steadily build from there. By the end of the book, you’ll have the skills to create a simple site with multi-column pages that adapt for mobile devices.

Learn how to use the latest techniques, best practices, and current web standards—including HTML5 and CSS3. Each chapter provides exercises to help you to learn various techniques, and short quizzes to make sure you understand key concepts.

This thoroughly revised edition is ideal for students and professionals of all backgrounds and skill levels, whether you’re a beginner or brushing up on existing skills.

• Build HTML pages with text, links, images, tables, and forms
• Use style sheets (CSS) for colors, backgrounds, formatting text, page layout, and even simple animation effects
• Learn about the new HTML5 elements, APIs, and CSS3 properties that are changing what you can do with web pages
• Make your pages display well on mobile devices by creating a responsive web design
• Learn how JavaScript works—and why the language is so important in web design
• Create and optimize web graphics so they’ll download as quickly as possible

Summary

Secrets of the Javascript Ninja takes you on a journey towards mastering modern JavaScript development in three phases: design, construction, and maintenance. Written for JavaScript developers with intermediate-level skills, this book will give you the knowledge you need to create a cross-browser JavaScript library from the ground up.

About this Book

You can't always attack software head-on. Sometimes you come at it sideways or sneak up from behind. You need to master an arsenal of tools and know every stealthy trick. You have to be a ninja.

Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja leads you down the pathway to JavaScript enlightenment. This unique book starts with key concepts, like the relationships between functions, objects, and closures, taught from the master's perspective. You'll grow from apprentice to ninja as you soak up fresh insights on the techniques you use every day and discover features and capabilities you never knew about. When you reach the final chapters, you'll be ready to code brilliant JavaScript applications and maybe even write your own libraries and frameworks.

You don't have to be a ninja to read this book—just be willing to become one. Are you ready?

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

• Functions, objects, closures, regular expressions, and more
• Seeing applications and libraries from the right perspective
• Dealing with the complexities of cross-browser development
• Modern JavaScript design

About the Authors

John Resig is an acknowledged JavaScript authority and the creator of the jQuery library. Bear Bibeault is a web developer and coauthor of Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, and jQuery in Action from Manning.

Table of Contents

PART 1 PREPARING FOR TRAINING

1. Enter the ninja
2. Arming with testing and debugging

PART 2 APPRENTICE TRAINING

3. Functions are fundamental
4. Wielding functions
5. Closing in on closures
6. Object-orientation with prototypes
7. Wrangling regular expressions
8. Taming threads and timers

PART 3 NINJA TRAINING

9. Ninja alchemy: runtime code evaluation
10. With statements
11. Developing cross-browser strategies
12. Cutting through attributes, properties, and CSS

PART 4 MASTER TRAINING

13. Surviving events
14. Manipulating the DOM
15. CSS selector engines

Since 1996, JavaScript: The Definitive Guide has been the bible for JavaScript programmers—a programmer's guide and comprehensive reference to the core language and to the client-side JavaScript APIs defined by web browsers.

The 6th edition covers HTML5 and ECMAScript 5. Many chapters have been completely rewritten to bring them in line with today's best web development practices. New chapters in this edition document jQuery and server side JavaScript. It's recommended for experienced programmers who want to learn the programming language of the Web, and for current JavaScript programmers who want to master it.

"A must-have reference for expert JavaScript programmers...well-organized and detailed."

--Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript, CTO of Mozilla

"I made a career of what I learned from JavaScript: The Definitive Guide.”

-- Andrew Hedges, Tapulous

• Understand PHP up to an intermediate level, including the basics of object-oriented programming
• Master MySQL, from database structure to complex queries
• Create web pages with PHP and MySQL by integrating forms and other HTML features
• Learn about JavaScript, from functions and event handling to accessing the Document Object Model
• Pick up the basics of CSS (and CSS3) and learn how to use it to create compelling and dynamic web pages.
• Find out how to manipulate CSS properties directly from JavaScript
• Make Ajax calls and turn your website into a highly interactive environment
• Upload and manipulate files and images, validate user input, and secure your applications
• Bring all these technologies together to create a  social networking site

Designed to help experienced programmers develop real-world, job-role-specific skills—this Training Guide focuses on creating applications with HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3. Build hands-on expertise through a series of lessons, exercises, and suggested practices—and help maximize your performance on the job.

• Provides in-depth, hands-on training you take at your own pace
• Focuses on job-role-specific expertise for using HTML5, JavaScript, and CSS3 to begin building modern web and Windows 8 apps
• Features pragmatic lessons, exercises, and practices
• Creates a foundation of skills which, along with on-the-job experience, can be measured by Microsoft Certification exams such as 70-480
• Coverage includes: creating HTML5 documents; implementing styles with CSS3; JavaScript in depth; using Microsoft developer tools; AJAX; multimedia support; drawing with Canvas and SVG; drag and drop functionality; location-aware apps; web storage; offline apps; writing your first simple Windows 8 apps; and other key topics