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The Javascript Programming Language
video.yahoo.com — "Excellent presentation and great insight on the history and basics. Douglas rocks, yahoo is real lucky to have him!"
kevinrose- 1708 diggs
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- DownFlipper, on 10/12/2007, -69/+10DIGG ME DOWN
- commandos, on 10/12/2007, -24/+5Javascript is a very simple and nice language , nice integration can be done with any language (php , asp ) and dont forget the web 2.0 :p
it's based on javascript - jockser, on 10/12/2007, -9/+15Not only that, i even blocked you.
- bakagaigin, on 10/12/2007, -13/+3@jockser
I hate comments like yours, because now I have to read the buried comments to get the joke/whatever! And it was so disappointing!
...Nice avatar, though. - palmer, on 10/12/2007, -19/+10This post is another great example of MISUSING VIDEO.
Why in hell do we need a bloated, unwieldy video of a guy standing around talking and occasionally showing PowerPoint slides? WE DON'T.
This would've been better as a Flash presentation with audio. - krelian, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12@palmer
This video was not made for you. It's an internal Yahoo LECTURE whose video they generously made available to all of us. - Birdoftruth, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2This video is Awesome Possum
- LordofShadows, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Wow.... javascript is more screwed up than I thought. ;o)
- commandos, on 10/12/2007, -24/+5Javascript is a very simple and nice language , nice integration can be done with any language (php , asp ) and dont forget the web 2.0 :p
- utcursch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17The other videos in the series and powerpoint slides:
http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/theater/
Douglas Crockford's JavaScript site is also very informative:
http://www.crockford.com/javascript/ - falloutsyndrome, on 10/12/2007, -10/+61"Saying Javascript is nice because it works on all platforms is like saying anal sex is good because it works on all genders."
- TroubleInMind, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Not that there'd be anything wrong with that.
- UnConeD, on 10/12/2007, -7/+10JavaScript rocks. The problems with JavaScript today are mostly due to the browsers, i.e. the environment that the code is run in. But as a language on its own, there is very little wrong with it, and is a lot cleaner and more flexible than a lot of other languages in use on the web (e.g. PHP, which contradicts itself at every turn). Look at what libraries like jQuery do for example: they add an almost functional interface to the browser DOM, without the use of exotic hacks or a verbose syntax. In PHP, I can't even redefine a function ffs.
Today, JavaScript is used for a lot more today than just fancy effects on websites. Most of Firefox's UI is written in JS. All OS X dashboard widgets are JS. ActionScript 3 (the language of Flash 9) is really just JavaScript in disguise. The list goes on. Dismissing JavaScript as a toy language is a knee-jerk response from people who just got bitter from badly designed/coded websites.
PS: jQuery makes JavaScript fun again ;). - floodyberry, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10He just clobbered a bash.org quote, I doubt he put any thought into the post: http://bash.org/?338364
- geminitojanus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6"The problems with JavaScript today are mostly due to the browsers, i.e. the environment that the code is run in."
That's exactly the point. Javascript as a language isn't bad (it isn't great either). Javascript implementations universally suck. Mozilla's is so nasty at this point they're replacing most of it (see Tamarin). One of the worst parts about it is that it's being linked at runtime with an Object Model that it has no previous knowledge of (the Document Object Model can take a virtually infinite number of forms), and that causes it to have to do a lot of memory thrashing and caching to get up and running. Normally if you're running anything nearly this complex you'd want to compile it before even attempting to run it (Just-in-Time in this case), but Javascript implementations today are mostly interpreters (Adobe's Flash is bytecode compiled, which is what Tamarin actually is, a JavaScript Virtual Machine, and even it can bring some of the most robust current machines to its knees). - NoHandle, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Funny, I was just talking about that.
No, not JavaScript, the other one. - beermad, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1*****, that's funny, falloutsyndrome.
One of the best laughs I've had all day. - decepto, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1...and all species.
- dmsuperman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Unconed, you're absolutely right. Check out Adobe's Apollo, they obviously see the uses of such a language. It's far more powerful than just something to toy with, anyone ever use the web client for Gmail? It's a very powerful language that boring people don't understand the use for.
- scot524, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Dugg. I really don't like Javascript, but it's often the right tool for the job and YUI is great.
- JamesWilson, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3And ActionScript is ECMAScript (javascript) as well. I love the JS! Extremely flexible.
- RustyIdiot, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Having read Professional JavaScript for Web Developers by Nicholas Zakas last year I have a new found respect for JavaScript - in all honesty I never knew it was an OO language before reading this book. Knowing it is OO and knowing a few of the common patterns it's amazing how much easier it becomes to write complex and stable components.
I think the bad rep comes from the fact that the majority of people using JavaScript probably don't understand the language correctly, yet because it's so easy to get started and do something simple people think they've understood it and as soon as they try to achieve anything remotely complex it's script error city and hack upon hack ensues.- daveisfera, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Like most programming languages, people bash it out of inexperience/lack of knowledge and not out of any really flaw in the language itself.
- GMorgan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Yes but it also isn't better than anything else either. TBH we are starting to see some interesting new scripting languages come out like Groovy that get out of your way much better than JS. Groovy also has a better implementation than JS already (being Java based).
- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Interned at a two of crock's startups, way back. Smart guy. Funny to see he got dugg. By krose, no less ;)
- UnConeD, on 10/12/2007, -1/+27Here's an invaluable tool for the aspiring web/JS developer:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1843
Firebug is a complete DOM/HTML/CSS inspector, JavaScript debugger (breakpoints, watch, stepping, etc) and plugs into Firefox.- merreborn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Firebug's also a great AJAX debugging tool -- it logs all requests/responses.
- basictheory, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Firebug is amazing for any app, ajax, flash... whatever. Love it.
- dvdgee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Douglas Crockford is awesome. I want to see him and Dean Edwards go head-on in a Javascript battle to the death. I'm not sure who would win.
- joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Why hasn't javascript been updated at the same pace as other web standards? It's great, but has fallen way behind and hence the need and prolification of all these 3rd party javascript libraries out there (Jquery, Prototype, Moo, etc.)
While these libraries are great, it seems a lot of their effort is going into just trying to fix big holes in Javascript (like the lack of a getElementByClass method)- dvdgee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"big holes in Javascript (like the lack of a getElementByClass method)".
The lack of a getElementsByClassName function isn't a big hole, it actually makes sense when you think about it. What you're talking about would be an addition to the DOM specification, which is not Javascript-specific - there are DOM libraries for all major languages. the DOM is a specification for handling XML documents, not specifically X/HTML documents. In any XML document, you can use a schema or DTD to define which attribute is the "id" for that element (it defaults to "id", but isn't constrained to it), hence the availability of the getElementById method. However, the "class" attribute is unique to X/HTML and has no relevance in an XML document. if you have an XML document with a node "<element class="myClass" />" and you attempt to attach a CSS stylesheet to the XML document that references "element.myClass", it won't work. The correct place for a "getElementsByClassName" function is definitely as a third-party library, not an addition to the DOM spec.
On the other hand, implementing XPath tools into client-side Javascript would make a lot of sense. - goodbyepolar, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1getElementsByClassName will be available in FF v.3 - http://ejohn.org/blog/getelementsbyclassname-in-firefox-3/
- dvdgee, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"big holes in Javascript (like the lack of a getElementByClass method)".
- eugenef, on 10/12/2007, -9/+2I haaaaaate JavaScript!
- beermad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1In a lot of ways, I agree with you, eugenef. It isn't a language I enjoy coding in like I enjoy Perl, and it can be horribly over-used in ways that make sites totally awful to visit. But a lot of what it can do is fantastic and really makes up for it being horrible to code in.
Used right, it enhances a web site. Used wrong, it ***** the site up.
- beermad, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1In a lot of ways, I agree with you, eugenef. It isn't a language I enjoy coding in like I enjoy Perl, and it can be horribly over-used in ways that make sites totally awful to visit. But a lot of what it can do is fantastic and really makes up for it being horrible to code in.
- psygnisfive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Crockford's a pretty knowledgable guy. I dislike his parasitic inheritance for OO JS but not for major reasons.
- AceTracer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Yahoo is -really- lucky to have him.
I continue to mourn the death of the adverb, its death came much too quickly. - sproket, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0JavaScript sucks the dirty poo out of my anus
- jbraud, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0All that swaying made me dizzy.
- 123zoozle, on 12/17/2007, -0/+0Douglas rocks again, very good article.
Thanks.
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http://astore.amazon.com/aerobed.inflatable.bed-20 - crossers, on 07/17/2008, -0/+0few days that I begin to learn JavaScript. and it's so interesting! you can do in your page whathever you want! it's something very good!
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http://www.chasr.org/ - ideafry, on 08/28/2008, -0/+0Peoples use JavaScript today in a form of AJAX. Smart! find some cool ajax resources here :
http://www.sociableblog.com/
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