Sarasota PC Monitor
How to Do Everything With Java Script
A Book Review
by Vinny Labash
Member of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc.Some say that computers have changed everything about everyday living. Does anyone remember when Java meant a cup of coffee? When you talk about Java today, you are referring to a widely used variation of an encoding language that Netscape introduced to the programming world late in 1995. JavaScript has become almost universal across the Internet. More than 25% of all web pages produced today contain some JavaScript. These sites use JavaScript to control web content, animation or automate complex forms.
If you maintain a web site or contemplating building one of your own, do yourself a service and examine Scott Duffy's "How to Do Everything with JavaScript". Duffy shows how to take advantage of Java's ease of use, and takes the intimidation out of learning a program language. He illustrates the power of JavaScript by repeatedly demonstrating how to create effective, and sometimes unusual, browser effects with only a single JavaScript statement. More impressively, Duffy rels that a mere five JavaScript commands and statements can give a completely interactive browser environment.
There are those who would say, "Why not use FrontPage or a similar program that generates the code for me?" That can be a very good idea, but if you want or need complete control over everything that goes into your web site, even a small personal one, it's an even better idea to learn the basics of JavaScript. If you are going to take the time, trouble, and effort to build and maintain a web site, why not have complete and total control of everything in it?
The first five chapters of the book are for those who are unfamiliar with JavaScript and its syntax. Here is where you learn the basics. After you have learned the fundamentals, you will learn how to integrate JavaScript into your web site. You round out your knowledge by learning how to debug your code, trap errors, and perform other sophisticated programming techniques.
The best way to learn something is to do it. You can read books about swimming, watch videos, and observe others swimming, but until you get into the water, you will never really understand what swimming is all about. Programming with JavaScript is no different. The only way to learn it is to do it. The worst thing that can happen is that you will try something that may not work. That's fine. Get back to the drawing board and do it until you get it right.
$29.99, 350 pages, McGraw Hill Osbourne
2600 Tenth Street, Berkely, California 94710
ISBN 0-07-222887-3
Copyright 2003. This article is from the May 2003 issue of the Sarasota PC Monitor, the official monthly publication of the Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc., P.O. Box 15889, Sarasota, FL 34277-1889. Permission to reprint is granted only to other non-profit computer user groups, provided proper credit is given to the author and our publication. We would appreciate receiving a copy of the publication the reprint appears in, please send to above address, Attn: Editor. For further information about our group, email: admin@spcug.org/ Web: http://www.spcug.org/
The Sarasota Personal Computer Users Group, Inc. has 1,100+ members and was established in 1982. We are members of the Assoc. of PC User Groups (APCUG), the Florida Assoc. of PC Users Groups, Inc., and we are members of the America Online Ambassador Program.
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