JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (Nutshell Handbooks) - Softcover

Flanagan, David

4.09

3,081 ratings by Goodreads

9781565922341: JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (Nutshell Handbooks)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1565922344 ISBN 13: 9781565922341

Publisher: O'Reilly Media, 1997

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JavaScript is a simple programming language from Netscape that can be embedded in your HTML web pages. It allows you to control the behavior of the web browser, add dynamically created text to your web pages, interact with the user through HTML forms (without CGI scripts), and, in version 3.0 of Netscape Navigator, even control and interact with Java applets and Navigator plugins. JavaScript is not an alternative to Java, but an ideal partner. The two languages have separate but very complementary features. Since JavaScript is a simple language that can be embedded directly into a web page, without need for compilation, it is accessible to more web page authors, and may actually have a larger short-term impact on the Web and on Internet computing than Java itself. This book is a definitive guide for JavaScript. The first eight chapters document the core JavaScript language, and the next six describe how JavaScript works on the client side to interact with the web browser and with the web page. These chapters are followed by acomplete reference section that documents every object, property, method, event handler, function, and constructor used by client-side JavaScript. This book also covers the use of JavaScript on web servers, as well as the object, properties, and methods of server-side JavaScript. A separate reference section documents the interaction between JavaScript and HTML -- mainly aspects of HTML that relate to JavaScript.The book describes the version of JavaScript shipped with Navigator 2.0, 2.0.1, and 2.0.2, and also the much-changed version of JavaScript shipped with Navigator 3.0, 3.0.1, and 3.0.2. It also covers LiveConnect, used for communication between JavaScript and Java applets, and commonly encountered bugs on JavaScript objects.

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Review:

In typical O'Reilly & Associates fashion, this book documents every nuance of the JavaScript 1.1 language specification. It may appear dry on the surface (many pages have the spare style of UNIX online documentation), but this is the book you'll pull off your shelf when you want to know which method returns the primitive value of an object. Flanagan's book comes out ahead of its competitors in a few other areas, too. JavaScript features a useful discussion of the limited JavaScript support found in Microsoft Internet Explorer and provides excellent documentation of LiveConnect, the software that allows JavaScript to communicate with Java applets. It also offers a taste of what's in store for the just-released JavaScript 1.2.

With a relatively small number of examples and no CD-ROM, this guide is more of a reference than a tutorial. It will serve experienced JavaScript programmers far better than those who are just starting out with the language.

From the Back Cover:

JavaScript: The Definitive Guide provides a thorough description of the JavaScript programming language - complete with sophisticated programming examples - as well as a definitive, in-depth reference section covering each JavaScript function, object, method, property, and event handler. HTML authors will learn how to use JavaScript to build dynamic web pages. Experienced programmers will quickly find the information they need to start writing JavaScript programs. And all JavaScript programmers, regardless of experience level, will find the book an indispensable reference. This second edition of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide covers the versions of JavaScript included in Netscape Navigator 2.0 and 3.0, and in Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0. An appendix details forthcoming features of JavaScript in Navigator 4.0.

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