Practical Prototype and script.aculo.us (Expert's Voice in Web Development) (Paperback)

~ Andrew Dupont (Author)
Key Phrases: blank anymore, nav home, breakfast log, Internet Explorer, Blank Page, Using Enumerable (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

As a JavaScript developer, you will already be aware of some of the time saving, convenience, and functionality provided to you by JavaScript/Ajax libraries in general. Prototype (www.prototypejs.org) and its sister effects library, script.aculo.us (http://script.aculo.us/), are among the most popular and best–supported JavaScript libraries, and now Prototype Core dev team member Andrew Dupont has written this book to provide you with an essential guide to getting the most out of using Prototype and script.aculo.us.

Practical Prototype and script.aculo.us will help you leverage the Prototype and script.aculo.us libraries to enhance your day–to–day work, speeding up mundane tasks and providing advanced UI effects in a way that is cross–browser compliant—taking many worries off your shoulders. Take a whirlwind tour of the different time–saving functions and features Prototype provides and how it extends the basic JavaScript objects, including events, Ajax techniques, DOM elements, enumerables, and advanced OOP. Understand how script.aculo.us fits into the wider world of DOM Scripting/DHTML; find out how to use it to enhance your UIs quickly and effectively, with UI controls, effects, and drag and drop; and discover Prototype and script.aculo.us as a platform.

The author avoids needless theory and rhetoric throughout the book, moving you through the topics at a fast pace. He incorporates several real–world examples to help you gain valuable practical experience as you learn. Practical Prototype and script.aculo.us is completely up to date and features server–side examples written in PHP that show the framework can be used effectively in more environments than just Ruby on Rails.

• Master all the convenience functions of Prototype to speed up your JavaScript/Ajax development.
• Leverage script.aculo.us to turbo charge your dynamic UIs.
• Learn from JavaScript expert Andrew Dupont, one of the Prototype Core team members.

What you’ll learn

• How to use all of the basic timesaving/convenience functions of Prototype
• How to use enumberables to speed up looping, arrays, etc.
• How to enhance your Ajax applications with Prototype
• How Prototype makes working with events and DOM elements a cinch
• How script.aculo.us fits into DOM Scripting/DHTML
• How to make use of the basic effects available in script.aculo.us
• Mastery of UI controls and drag and drop in script.aculo.us
• How to treat Prototype and script.aculo.us as a platform
• How to use Prototype and script.aculo.us effectively with PHP and other server–side setups besides Ruby on Rails

Who is this book for?

This book is for any JavaScript developer who wants to employ Prototype/script.aculo.us in his or her day–to–day work.

About the Apress Practical Series

The Practical series from Apress is your best choice for getting the job done, period. From professional to expert, this series lets you apply project–motivated templates (or frameworks) step by step in a very direct, practical, and efficient manner toward current real–world projects that may be sitting on your desk. So whatever your career goal, Apress can be your trusted guide to take you where you want to go on your IT career empowerment path.

Related Titles from Apress

• Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax: From Novice to Professional
• Pro JavaScript Techniques
• Pro DOM Scripting with Ajax, APIs, and Libraries
• AdvancED DOM Scripting: Dynamic Web Design Techniques

About the Author

Andrew Dupont is a web designer and developer living and working in Austin, Texas. He is a member of Prototype Core, the team that collaborates on the Prototype JavaScript Framework.

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Apress (June 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1590599195
• ISBN-13: 978-1590599198
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #73,840 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Only decent Prototype/script.aculo.us book published to date, July 30, 2008

By	M. McAulay (southern cali) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Prototype and script.aculo.us are influential and widely adopted. It's not surprising that book publishers are rushing to cover them. What is surprising is that most of the titles currently available are of such poor quality. This is the good one.

Practical Prototype and script.aculous is well-organized, easy-to-read, covers the feature set well and includes a wealth of non-fluffy background material that beginners and journeymen alike will appreciate. The book easily paid for itself in time savings. Use it with the API reference at prototypejs.org/api and you'll be all set.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Resource for Web Devs, January 10, 2009

By	Apple Geek - See all my reviews

I'm a freelance web developer and received this book as a gift, but had been planning on buying it. 'Practical Prototype and Script.aculo.us' offers us a one-stop source for the popular JavaScript libraries in the title. Unlike online resources, the book gives you background on the Prototype library, which is essentially a buffer between you (the developer) and JavaScript. This allows Prototype to worry about browser-compatibility in many cases, and allows easy access to many common functions such as AJAX requests and inserting HTML into a div. Script.aculo.us, on the other hand, is built to sit on top of Prototype and provide UI (user interface) enhancements, such as dynamic sliders, drag-and-drop, and more.

While I have years of experience with building websites, this book is not written just for experienced coders. In most cases, it gives you background information on the topic at hand and doesn't assume you know too much about anything in particular.

I would recommend that readers have a basic knowledge of HTML, and an average understanding of JavaScript. This is a great resource, and every web developer should have a copy if they plan on keeping up with the industry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great book for those interested in Prototype and script.aculo.us, July 30, 2008

By	A. Jones "a bald technologist" (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Andrew does an excellent job introducing developers at all levels to the power of these great frameworks, providing an easy way for those new to JavaScript to get started as well as the important information required by the experienced. Add in a dash of Andrew's dry humor and direct experience building Prototype as a part of the core team and you've got a hell of a great resource for Web developers.