[...]... tomorrow’s browsers Organization and Features of This Edition Like the previous two editions of JavaScript Bible, this sixth edition contains far more information than can be printed and bound into a single volume The complete contents can be found in the electronic version of this book (in PDF form) on the CD-ROM that accompanies the book This new edition is structured in such a way as to supply the... mini-database This foreword originally appeared as the foreword to JavaScript Bible, Fourth Edition xvii Foreword At first, I thought JavaScript would most often find use in validating input to HTML forms But before long, I was surprised to see how many web designers devised compelling applications by way of script-generated HTML and JavaScript objects It became clear from user demonstration and feedback... few images, HTML, and JavaScript Eventually they demanded that the browser support what is now known as Dynamic HTML (one fun link: http://www .javascript- games.org/) As legions of web authors embraced the authoring power of JavaScript, they, in turn, demonstrated the crucial advantages of a scripting environment over old-school application development Not only were the HTML and JavaScript languages... vii Foreword xvii Preface xix Part I: Getting Started with JavaScript 1 Chapter 1: JavaScript s Role in the World Wide Web and Beyond 3 Competing for Web Traffic 4 Other Web Technologies 4 JavaScript: A Language for All 6 JavaScript: The Right Tool for the Right Job 8 Chapter 2: Authoring Challenges Amid the... information for the core JavaScript language fills Part IV As with reference chapters of Part III, the JavaScript chapters display browser compatibility charts for every JavaScript language term Guide words near the top of pages help you find a particular term quickly Part V Several appendices at the end of the book provide helpful reference information These resources include a JavaScript and Browser... and C++), JavaScript shares many syntactical characteristics with C Programmers familiar with C will feel right at home Operator symbols, conditional structures, and repeat loops follow very much in the C tradition You will be less concerned about data types in JavaScript than you are in C In JavaScript, a variable is not restricted to any particular data type xxii Preface With so much of the JavaScript. .. passing These aspects are simply non-issues when scripting At the same time, however, the designers of JavaScript knew that you’d have some hard-tobreak habits For example, although JavaScript does not require a semicolon at the end of each statement line, if you type one in your JavaScript source code, the JavaScript interpreter won’t balk If you’ve written scripts (or macros) before Experience with writing... occasionally appear in the book to flag important points or suggest where to find more information Getting Started with JavaScript IN THIS PART Chapter 1 JavaScript s Role in the World Wide Web and Beyond Chapter 2 Authoring Challenges Amid the Browser Wars Chapter 3 Your First JavaScript Script JavaScript s Role in the World Wide Web and Beyond M any of the technologies that make the World Wide Web possible... cases, JavaScript can work side by side with these other technologies, even though the hype around some make them sound like one-stop shopping places for all your interactive needs That’s rarely the case Finally, you learn about the origins of JavaScript and what role it plays in today’s advanced Web browsers 3 IN THIS CHAPTER How JavaScript blends with other Web-authoring technologies The history of JavaScript. .. object-oriented approach), JavaScript had a small vocabulary and a more easily digestible programming model The true difficulty, it turned out, was making the distinction between Java and JavaScript clear to the world Many computer journalists made major blunders when they said or implied that JavaScript provided a simpler way of building Java applets To this day, some new programmers believe JavaScript is synonymous . fashion from JavaScript objects forming a catalog or mini-database. xvii This foreword originally appeared as the foreword to JavaScript Bible, Fourth Edition. 03_069165. 3:38 PM Page iii A major new edition of the definitive guide to JavaScript! Make your Web pages stand out above the noise with JavaScript and the expert