[Cialug] JavaScript

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Mon, 2006-12-11 at 06:03 -0600, Carl Olsen wrote:
> Also, is anyone aware of a JavaScript user group, similar to the PHP
> user group?

Javascript versions are not so consistent in their naming/supported
features. Instead of looking at a js version, instead look at supported
features.

For example, your obj.getElementById() is part of the DOM standard. IE
6, FF, Opera and most other modern browsers support DOM just fine.

I don't know about a js user group... are you looking for a place where
you can ask help, or are you looking for a place that you can meet with
other js users face to face?

BTW, the best book on JS I've ever read/purchased is Danny Goodman's
"Javascript Bible." If you don't buy his book, you can at least download
the printable browser quick reference from his site:
http://www.dannyg.com/ref/jsquickref.html

This gives you a print-out that shows which browsers support which
features of javascript. The js bible is a big book, but the first third
reads like a tutorial and is very well written and readable. There is
also a significant amount of space devoted to overcoming cross-browser
problems to ensure that things work reasonably well.

You're coming into the industry at a fortunate time... the amount of non
cross-browser compliant code I have to deal with today is far less than
in past years. It used to be that you pretty much wrote all your code
three times (ie, netscape and then <=3.0 level browsers) - now, we've
had awesome DOM support for over 5 years and I rarely need more than a
few lines of redundant code to ensure things work well.

If it were me starting out, I'd latch onto one of the more popular js
libraries and use it for all its worth. Something like "behavior"
http://bennolan.com/behaviour/, "prototype" http://prototype.conio.net/,
or my favorite, "Mochikit" http://mochikit.com/. These "frameworks" do
most of your repetitive work for you and you can focus on your logic.
-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode