The book requires no prior knowledge of JavaScript and works from the ground up to give you a thorough grounding in this powerful language. If you do already know some JavaScript, you will find plenty of eye-openers as you discover just what the language can do. This book takes a do-it-yourself approach when it comes to writing code, because the best way to really learn a programming language is by writing code. You are encouraged to type code into Firebug's console, see how it works and then tweak it and play around with it. There are practice questions at the end of each chapter to help review what you have learned.
What you will learn
Learn to think in JavaScript, the language of the web browser The basics of object-oriented programming, and how they apply to JavaScript Set up and use your training environment (Firebug) Master data types, operators, and flow control statements Understand functions: usage patterns, variable scope, and built-in functions Closures demystified Create and use objects Understand and use prototypes Reuse code with common patterns for inheritance Understand and work with the BOM (Browser Object Model) The DOM (Document Object Model) â€- accessing, modifying, adding, and deleting nodes Build responsive web pages with AJAX JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) Listen and respond to browser events Apply design patterns to solve common problems Adopt coding patterns that unleash the unique power of the language Make your programs cleaner, faster, and compatible with other programs and libraries Achieve missing object-oriented features in JavaScript such as private properties and methods