Book Description

The JavaScript ecosystem can be tough to hack through, even for experienced programmers. There are so many extensive JavaScript reference books and competing libraries to choose from-Prototype, jQuery, MooTools, YUI, Dojo, ExtJS, and so on.

Christophe Porteneuve is here to help: he gives you fundamentals, the most handy techniques, and the insider’s best practices. If you’re reasonably comfortable programming in any widely known language, you’ll be able to jump into JavaScript in no time.

Divided into six Parts, the book starts with JavaScript code patterns that are too often ignored by JavaScript coders. Part 2 presents several essential JavaScript tasks-DOM and CSS manipulations, plus event handling and timers-in a framework-agnostic way, using syntax from all the major flavors. Parts 3 and 4, respectively, hit JavaScript’s best features for user interface functionality-tooltips, lightboxes, image processing, infinite scrolling, and more-and forms for receiving and validating input. Part 5 explores the client/server relationship, touching on cookies, JSON, and Ajax (same- and cross-domain). Part 6 uses JavaScript in mashups with Twitter, Flickr, and geo-related APIs.

The appendices feature Christophe’s two-page JavaScript cheat sheet, followed by hard-won tips on debugging even the most maddening JavaScript errors. Next is an even-handed assessment of the major frameworks used in the book and in most JavaScript shops today. Last, Christophe presents an extensive group of resources for using and learning JavaScript and the major frameworks. Download Now »

Book Description

As the industry-standard, must-know scripting language, JavaScript is supported by all major browsers and is increasingly the foundation of new web development technologies such as Ajax and JSON. This book offers a selection of some of the most active and most used JavaScript frameworks available, replete with practical examples and explanations of what each framework does best. You’ll look at common web development tasks and discover how each framework approaches that set of tasks, as well as learn how to use the features of each framework and avoid potential pitfalls.

From the Back Cover
Professional JavaScript® Frameworks: Prototype, YUI, Ext JS, Dojo and MooTools
As the needs and demands of developers have evolved over the years, so has JavaScript, which boasts a track record of delivering high-performing and exceptionally impressive web-user experiences. This flexible, dynamic programming language is increasingly used for serious development on the web, and several of its tools and projects are being shared in the form of libraries and frameworks. Packed with coverage of many of the most popular JavaScript frameworks, this authoritative guide examines how these frameworks can present unique and varying approaches to a variety of problems in web development—each of which has its own pros and cons. Download Now »

Book Description

The last couple of years have seen big changes in server-side web programming. Now it’s the client’s turn; Dojo is the toolkit to make it happen and Mastering Dojo shows you how.Dojo is a set of client-side JavaScript tools that help you build better web applications. Dojo blurs the line between local, native applications and browser based applications; the browser becomes the user interface platform. “Modern” browsers provide an incomplete, inconvenient, and incompatible programming environment, but Dojo eliminates these problems. While there are many JavaScript libraries available, most focus on just one thing (for example, effects libraries, perceived JavaScript omissions, or HTML widgets). Dojo addresses all of these functional areas-and many others-extensively.

In Mastering Dojo, you’ll get the whole story, from basic usage to advanced idioms. Mastering Dojo starts out with a fast moving tutorial that will give you techniques that you can start using right away. You’ll learn all about Dojo Core–the foundation on which all things Dojo stand. See how you can modularize your project for development and automatically package your release for optimal download performance. You’ll also learn how Dojo: