Modern JavaScript: Develop and Design [Paperback]

Larry Ullman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 27, 2012 | ISBN-10: 0321812522 | ISBN-13: 978-0321812520 | Edition: 1

It’s time for a current, definitive JavaScript book, and in this comprehensive beginner’s guide, bestselling author Larry Ullman teaches the language as it is implemented today. Larry demonstrates how to build upon JavaScript’s ease of use, while demystifying its often-cryptic syntax, especially for those who have not programmed before. This book enforces modern JavaScript’s best practices and embraces key Web development approaches such as progressive enhancement and unobtrusive scripting. The author demonstrates loads of real-world code and makes it available for download.

You’ll learn about JavaScript itself and the relationship between JavaScript and HTML. Next you’ll explore variables, common operators, and control structures. Then you’ll create functions, handle events, and do more with HTML forms. You’ll master Ajax, work with frameworks, and use JavaScript with PHP to create a complete example. The result is a book that helps you not just tinker with JavaScript but to thoroughly comprehend it.

This book includes:

• Easy step-by-step instruction, ample illustrations, and clear examples

• Real-world techniques to build your skills
  

• Insight into best practices from a veteran Web expert
  

• Emphasis on strategies for creating reliable code that will work on all of today’s browsers and devices, even those without JavaScript
  

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A breath of fresh air in the over-complicated world of JavaScript books. This is one I'll keep close by!" 

Jay Blanchard 

Web developer and consultant and author of Applied jQuery: Develop and Design

From the Author

Thanks for your interest in this book. I first started using JavaScript in 1999, when it was a significantly different language than it is today. Or, more accurately, the language is almost exactly the same, but how it is used today differs tremendously. Most of the first books on the language covered JavaScript as it was being used at the time: as a toy language, intended to add tricks and gimmicks to Web pages. Few books taught JavaScript as a true programming language, rather working more like recipe books. For example, readers might learn how to create a simple calculator, but fail to pick up fundamentals such as the differences between various data types. As JavaScript's usage evolved, these books retained too much of the outdated code and approaches, still presenting terrible practices like inline JavaScript (as opposed to unobtrusive JavaScript) and browser detection. For these and other reasons, many readers such as myself felt like there just were not many books that taught real and professional JavaScript to the average Web developer. That's why I wrote this book.

Modern JavaScript: Develop and Design was written to teach JavaScript as a complete programming language. The book does so using practical examples and emphasizing approaches that represent how the language should truly be used today. You'll learn sound Web development theory, relying heavily upon unobtrusive JavaScript, progressive enhancement, and object detection, among other concepts. At the same time, you'll also walk away with plenty of usable code and many examples that are applicable to today's Web. There's even a chapter on using JavaScript and PHP together to create a complete, functional, and reliable Web application (the basis of an auction site). 

Finally, you can download all the scripts from my Web site. I also run a support forum where you can ask questions and get help. Secondary and supporting articles are also published on my Web site, and at the publisher's site. Thanks again for the interest in the book!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 624 pages
• Publisher: Peachpit Press; 1 edition (February 27, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321812522
• ISBN-13: 978-0321812520
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #31,222 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #88 in Books > Computers & Technology > Web Development > Programming

More About the Author

Despite having written many computer books, I have no formal computer training, save for one Pascal class way, way, way back in high school. So I like to say that I'm not a computer geek, although I can speak their language.

My formal education was in impractical knowledge: English literature, language, and writing; philosophy and religion (with a heavy emphasis on symbolic logic); and, Latin. As you can see, nothing really useful here. I guess what I did figure out is how to learn something new, how to synthesize all the information I come across, and how to communicate what I've learned in a clear and effective manner.

Since college I've worked at a national bookstore chain, at the main library at Georgetown University, and then for DMC Insights, Inc. I started as the head of the Digital Media Technologies department, where my main focus was on developing dynamic Web sites. I've since been promoted to President of the company, but that's not as impressive as it may sound! Most of my time is spent writing (books and articles), teaching (online and in small group settings), and actually using the technologies that I write about and teach.