[Cialug] JavaScript

[carl-olsen at mchsi.com]

The class is CS010.  The book uses Java, but the instructor skips those chapters and substitutes JavaScript for the programming language.  The book goes over Java in about 100 pages and goes into OOP in quite a bit of depth.  I had no trouble understanding it, but I've already learned OOP using C#.  Java is almost identical to C#, at least at that level.  I can see why he is using JavaScript, because he is giving the examples using a simple text editor (nothing fancy) and it runs in just about any web browser.  I'm just taking it as an opportunity to make the examples more complex by adding in Array.prototype methods.  If I'm going to spend time using JavaScript, I want to get the most out of it.  As I mentioned, I'm doing quite a bit of JavaScript right now using Google Maps.  I've never had much use for JavaScript before, but now with all the AJAX stuff coming out it seems like its time to focus on it.

 -------------- Original message ----------------------
From: "Daniel A. Ramaley" <daniel.ramaley at DRAKE.EDU>
> Just curious, what CS class uses JavaScript? When i was taking CS 
> classes at Drake a few years ago i don't think that was one of the 
> languages taught. The program is constantly changing though; the intro 
> class for me was taught in Pascal, but that switched to Java a couple 
> years later. I don't know if it is still Java today; i would think a 
> smaller and simpler language might be more appropriate for an intro 
> level class.
> 
> On Monday 11 December 2006 06:03, Carl Olsen wrote:
> >I'm starting to use JavaScript frequently, mostly in conjunction with
> > Google Maps and PHP, but also in various other projects, and now I'm
> > taking a Computer Science course that requires a lot of JavaScript
> > programming.  Up to now, I've mostly used it to wire up buttons on my
> > page so I can pass parameters to PHP functions using hidden HTML
> > input tags (using the document.getElementById() method).  The
> > environment I'm currently working in requires JavaScript, so the
> > question of whether to use it or not is not relevant in my situation.
> >  When I use PHP, I don't have to worry about what version the client
> > is running.  The main things I think about from the client
> > perspective is CSS and JavaScript.  I want to start learning more
> > about JavaScript, but I find it confusing as to which version is
> > going to work in the largest number of client browsers.  It seems
> > like not all of the features work in every browser.  It also seems
> > like the support for things like arrays is no where near as advanced
> > as it is in languages like PHP, Java, or C#.  Does anyone know if
> > there is a version of JavaScript that is currently a de facto
> > standard?  What version are most people using?  I'm mainly looking
> > for features like PHP has for manipulating arrays, like in_array()
> > and thinks like that (last index of, etc.).
> >
> >
> >
> >Also, is anyone aware of a JavaScript user group, similar to the PHP
> > user group?
> >
> >
> >
> >Carl Olsen
> >
> >Drake University
> 
> -- 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Dan Ramaley                            Dial Center 118, Drake University
> Network Programmer/Analyst             2407 Carpenter Ave
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