Javascript Developer’s Programming Reference Guide

Javascript Developer’s Programming Reference Guide

 

Get Javascript Website Skills in 2 Weeks

Javascript website skills needed for interactivity: menus, buttons and forms.

JavaScript ® (often shortened to JS) is mostly know as the scripting language for web pages and web browsers. As a programming language JS is defined as a lightweight, interpreted, object-oriented language that includes first-class functions. As part of web browsers, implementations allow client-side scripts to interact with the user, control the browser, communicate asynchronously, and alter the document content that is displayed. It has also become common used in many non-browser environments for example server-side programming, game development and the creation of desktop applications. Some examples of JS libraries for these environments inclue node.js andr Apache CouchDB. The JavaScript standard is ECMAScript. As of 2012, all modern browsers fully support ECMAScript 5.1. Older browsers support at least ECMAScript 3. A 6th major revision of the standard is in the works.

Debugging

Web browser tools contain Javascript debugging tools and you should learn to use them. However there are some other debugging tools you may find on the internet that can be helpful.

JSLint JSLint is a JavaScript program that looks for problems in JavaScript programs. It is a code quality tool.
JSBin Welcome | Blank HTML Page JSBin is an online tool that as you type, HTML, CSS & JavaScript is automatically rendered live. You can also save your work as you type. Makes adding common Javascript libraries a snap.

Mozilla’s Javascript Web Pages

There are many references, tutorials and guides available on the Internet. The Mozilla documentation is useful since they are responsible for making Javascript work in the Firefox web browser.

Mozilla Javascript Guide. Great synopsis of the language.
The JavaScript standard is ECMAScript. As of 2012, all modern browsers fully support ECMAScript 5.1. Older browsers support at least ECMAScript 3. A 6th major revision of the standard is in the works.

Web Browser Objects (BOM)

Javascript can interact with a web browser. Web Browsers implement objects sometimes called Browser Object Model or BOM. Keep in mind that there can be cross browser differences in the implementations, however the core features are the same.

Document Object Model (DOM)

Javascript can interact with the html document. Web browsers implement objects called the Document Object Model (DOM). Keep in mind that there can be cross browser differences in the implementations, however the core features are the same.

Basic Examples

Simple examples are often helpful.

W3Schools Basic Javascript examples. Also has a try it area so you can experiment.

Other Resources

10 Tips for Writing JavaScript without jQuery. June 2014. Author assume you using all the features in ECMAScript 5. with a little help for animation.

“We can comfortably use all features provided by ES5, and we have at our disposal awesome HTML5 APIs that make working with the DOM so much nicer.”

“Developers are now at a position where they can choose to leave out jQuery for some projects, and still retain their productivity.”

ECMAScript compatibility tables. These show the existence of new Javascript functionality across web browsers but does not prove that they work in conformance with the specification. Beware all Ye Who Enters!
Ace is an embeddable code editor written in JavaScript. It matches the features and performance of native editors such as Sublime, Vim and TextMate. It can be easily embedded in any web page and JavaScript application.