CSPP552: Web Programming, JavaScript part 1

What is it?

A fairly small scripting language embedded in web browsers
Interacts with HTML
Has nothing to do with Java
Kind of object-oriented
Not an overly complex language - lots of built-in objects.
Almost portable
- Netscape Javascript
- Microsoft JScript
- QNX Voyager
- Standard: ECMA-262/ECMAScript
DOM (Document Object Model) supposed to unify interaction with HTML
Overall, one of the worst languages I've ever seen
- If something squirms on a page, it's probably JavaScript
- Best used with restraint
- But capable of dirty tricks

A tutorial for it is Essential JavaScript for Web Professionals (Barrett, Livingston, Brown) Somewhat obnoxious, but it's only 200 pages, and covers the common tasks like image rollover. No object reference though, except for the event handlers. O-Reilly's JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (Flanagan) is a good reference, has few useful examples.