JavaScript by Example [Paperback]

Learn JavaScript now, from the world's #1 scripting instructor! Ellie Quigley's technically strong learning path deepens your skills one step at a time, through hundreds of small examples that demonstrate JavaScript's full power. You'll master every essential technique, from script setup and basic syntax through advanced DOM and CSS programming. Accompanying CD-ROM contains hundreds of code examples. Ideal for beginners and experienced scripters, Web pros and sysadmins.

Preface

After years of teaching scripting languages, I recently decided it was time to try teaching JavaScript, and went on a search for the right book for my students. There were so many JavaScript books on the bookshelves, it was hard to know where to begin. I started buying one at a time, reading and sifting through them, always feeling that something was missing. Like Cinderella's shoe, I couldn't find the right fit. Either the book was too heavy on the technical side, but lacking in pictures and examples, or it was filled with slide shows, rollovers, and scrolling banners, but brief on the technical side. I wanted something that did both, a book that would demonstrate both the technical and the fun elements of JavaScript. I searched and searched, and found many excellent sources, but in the end, I couldn't find the perfect book for my class, so I decided to write my own.

With books and manuals piled high around my computer desk, I weeded through the best and the worst, gleaning out information and beginning to compile my new "By Example" book. I browsed through Internet tutorials and student guides, and studied Web pages, always looking for the best way to get the material across. I even delved into Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver, while roaming from Maine to San Francisco with my digital camera, snapping pictures that would enhance my examples and add to the colorful side of JavaScript. And after much cutting and pasting, cropping and trimming, testing and trying, a new book has evolved--the one I was looking for. The shoe finally fits!

"Quigley's book strikes a perfect balance: serious, yet exceptionally accessible. I strongly recommend it to anybody learning JavaScript for the first time."
--Nick Main, software engineer

In JavaScript by Example, Ellie Quigley teaches JavaScript using the same proven approach that's made her the world's favorite scripting author and instructor. This book's unique and classroom-tested learning path contains hundreds of small, easy-to-understand examples that demonstrate the full range of JavaScript's power. One step at a time, Quigley guides new JavaScript programmers through every essential technique, from script setup to advanced DOM and CSS programming.

Coverage includes:

• Data types, literals, and variables
• Operators, control structures, and functions
• Building dialog boxes and working with JavaScript objects using the Browser object: navigator, windows frames, dynamic images, and links
• Event handling, regular expressions, and form validation
• The JavaScript Document Object Model (DOM), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and Dynamic HTML

Whether you're a first-time or long-time scripter, a Web professional or sysadmin, Ellie Quigley will help you write rock-solid JavaScripts that get the job done.

The CD-ROM contains HTML versions of Netscape's JavaScript 1.5 Core Reference and JavaScript 1.5 Core Guide PLUS all the source code and data files used in the book.

ELLIE QUIGLEY is author of the best-selling UNIX Shells by Example, Third Edition, the classic Perl By Example, Third Edition and Linux Shells by Example, First Edition. Her proven approach has helped over 100,000 students and professionals master new scripting languages. Quigley's courses in scripting and shell programming at the U.C. Santa Cruz Extension Program and at leading technology companies including Sun Microsystems and Xilinx have become legendary throughout Silicon Valley.

Preface

After years of teaching scripting languages, I recently decided it was time to try teaching JavaScript, and went on a search for the right book for my students. There were so many JavaScript books on the bookshelves, it was hard to know where to begin. I started buying one at a time, reading and sifting through them, always feeling that something was missing. Like Cinderella's shoe, I couldn't find the right fit. Either the book was too heavy on the technical side, but lacking in pictures and examples, or it was filled with slide shows, rollovers, and scrolling banners, but brief on the technical side. I wanted something that did both, a book that would demonstrate both the technical and the fun elements of JavaScript. I searched and searched, and found many excellent sources, but in the end, I couldn't find the perfect book for my class, so I decided to write my own.

With books and manuals piled high around my computer desk, I weeded through the best and the worst, gleaning out information and beginning to compile my new "By Example" book. I browsed through Internet tutorials and student guides, and studied Web pages, always looking for the best way to get the material across. I even delved into Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Dreamweaver, while roaming from Maine to San Francisco with my digital camera, snapping pictures that would enhance my examples and add to the colorful side of JavaScript. And after much cutting and pasting, cropping and trimming, testing and trying, a new book has evolved--the one I was looking for. The shoe finally fits!