Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja

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 youcome at it sideways or sneak up from behind. You need tomaster 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 toJavaScript enlightenment. This unique book starts with keyconcepts, like the relationships between functions, objects, andclosures, taught from the master's perspective. You'll grow fromapprentice to ninja as you soak up fresh insights on the techniquesyou use every day and discover features and capabilities you neverknew about. When you reach the final chapters, you'll be ready tocode brilliant JavaScript applications and maybe even write yourown libraries and frameworks.

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

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 creatorof the jQuery library. Bear Bibeault is a web developer and coauthorof Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, and jQueryin 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

John Resig is the Dean of Open Source and head of JavaScript development at Khan Academy and the author of the book Pro JavaScript Techniques. He's also the creator and lead developer of the jQuery JavaScript library.

Bear Bibeault has been working in the area of web applications since the mid-nineties, getting started with beta versions of JSP and Servlets. He is a senior moderator at the popular JavaRanch site, and has contributed articles to the JavaRanch Journal as well as Dr Dobb's Journal online. He is a co-author of several Manning books including Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, jQuery in Action, and jQuery in Action, Second Edition. He works and resides in Austin, Texas.