JavaScript? Weekend Crash Course

Although I am fairly proficient with Javascript, I purchased this book because it used an online shopping cart as the basis of the lessons and I wanted the code to jumpstart a project. I did take the time to read the book on a coast-to-coast plane trip, so I got more out of it than just free code. The author claims that no programming experience is needed to complete the weekend crash course. I disagree with this claim because there is much more to programming, even in a scripting language, than knowing syntax. However, anyone who has even rudimentary programming skills will be able to quickly learn basic Javascript development using this book because the course has been well thought out and leads you through practical exercises that will, indeed, give you the knowledge and skills to write Javascript in a weekend. Key strengths of this book include: - succinct and focused lessons that build upon one another to culminate in genuine proficiency if you follow the lessons and work the exercises. - does not stray beyond the basics or introduce superfluous, nice-to-know material that will sidetrack you - uses a non-trivial application as the basis of the lessons (writing an online shopping cart will exercise every major Javascript feature) If you've never written a program you may still get through this book, but it will take diligence and personal commitment. It will also take more than a weekend in my opinion. However, if you have been exposed to programming in any language (but preferably the C programming language), you can become proficient in Javascript in a single weekend if you follow the lesson plan and work the exercises. In view of that this book is a worthwhile investment, especially if you are in a hurry or need to quickly get up to speed in Javascript. JavaScript® Weekend Crash CourseTM 1 Front Matter 3 About the Author 5 Credits 6 Preface 8 Acknowledgments 11 Contents at a Glance 12 Contents 14 Part I Friday Evening 28 Getting to Know JavaScript 29 Statements and Operators 37 Flow of Control Statements 47 How to Write JavaScript Functions 61 Part I Review 70 Part II —Saturday Morning 73 Working with JavaScript Strings 75 Working with JavaScript Arrays 84 Understanding the Browser Object Model 97 Working with the window Object 106 Working with the document Object 118 Reacting to Events 130 Part II Review 142 Part III -Saturday Afternoon 144 Dynamically Creating an HTML Page 145 Working with HTML Forms 154 Working with HTML Controls 163 Working with Images 181 Validating Form Data 192 Cooking up Cookies with JavaScript 203 Part III Review 217 Part IV Saturday Evening 219 Understanding JavaScript Objects 220 Creating and Using Methods 231 Enhancing HTML with JavaScript Objects 241 Dynamically Creating and Executing JavaScript 250 Part IV Review 260 Part V 264 Working with Cascading Style Sheets 265 Creating Dynamic HTML with JavaScript 278 Working with Frames 292 Working with Windows 304 Improving the User Interface 314 Working with Different Browsers 325 Part V Review 338 Part VI 340 Working with Dates, Numbers, and Web Addresses 341 Communicating with Server-Side Processes 355 Supporting Multimedia 367 Working with Java Applets 381 Part VI Review 387 Appendixes 389 Appenix A Answers to Part Reviews 389 Appendix B What’s on the CD-ROM 400 Index 404 CD-ROM Installation Instructions 427 Learn JavaScript fast! With __JavaScript Weekend Crash Course__, you can get up to speed programming JavaScript applications in a single weekend! This book begins at the beginning and assumes no prior JavaScript experience. You'll learn the essentials of JavaScript from Friday evening through Sunday afternoon. This book is for anyone who needs to learn how to create a JavaScript-based Web site. It includes a complete introduction to the language and examples of how to carry out common Web-programming tasks.