JavaScript Resources You Should Know About

Before finishing our foundation chapter, we should point out that tons of JavaScript resources are available on the Internet. (A casual search for "JavaScript" on the Internet turns up a mere 15,265,065 pages that discuss the topic). I'll put together a starter list here. As with all the Internet resources listed in this book, however, bear in mind that URLs can change in time.

To start, you can find the documentation for Netscape's JavaScript 1.5 online here:

• The JavaScript 1.5 user 's guide is at http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/js/ core /jsguide15/contents.html.

• The JavaScript 1.5 reference manual is at http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/js/core/jsref15/contents.html.

• You can download the JavaScript 1.5 user's guide and reference manual from http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/index.html?content=javascript.html.

You can find the documentation for JScript 5.6 online as well:

• The JScript 5.6 user's guide and reference manual is available at http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/script56/html/js56jsconjscriptfundamentals.asp. Click the links in the navigation bar to find these items.

• You also can download the JScript 5.6 user's guide and reference manual. The URL for that currently is http://msdn.microsoft.com/downloads/default.asp?URL=/downloads/sample.asp?url=/msdn-files/027/001/733/msdncompositedoc.xml.

The ECMAScript specifications are also online:

• The ECMAScript Language Specification, 3rd edition is at www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ECMA-262.HTM.

• The ECMAScript Components Specification is at www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ECMA-290.HTM.

• The ECMAScript 3rd Edition Compact Profile specification is at www.ecma.ch/ecma1/STAND/ecma-327.htm.

Here's where to find the W3C DOM specifications that give the object models for the browser objects to which browsers are now conforming:

• W3C DOM level 1: www.w3.org/TR/REC-DOM-Level-1/

• W3C DOM level 2: www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-2-Core/

• W3C DOM level 3: www.w3.org/TR/DOM-Level-3-Core/

Many general sites also have some good JavaScript resourceshere's a starter list:

• Netscape's JavaScript resources page is at http://developer.netscape.com/docs/manuals/jsresource.html.

• You can find some useful JavaScript resources at http://javascript.com/GoodJavaScript resource.

• A good source of JavaScript information is at http://javascript.about.com/.

• You can find additional JavaScript resources at http://www.javascriptgate.com/.

Here are a few free JavaScript tutorials on the web:

• www.scriptsearch.com/javascript/tips_and_tutorials/

• www.scriptsearch.com/javascript/web_sites/

• http://javascript.about.com/cs/beginner/index.htm

• www.w3schools.com/js/default.asp (JavaScript school)

• www.echoecho.com/javascript.htm

• www.iboost.com/build/programming/js/tutorial/876.htm

• www.bitafterbit.com/english/jscript/basic/index.html

• www.javascriptmall.com/learn/index.htm

And here are some sites that offer free, prewritten JavaScript scripts:

• www.scriptsearch.com/javascript/scripts/

• www.scriptsearch.com/javascript/web_sites/

• http://scriptsearch.internet.com/javascript/

• http://webdeveloper.earthweb.com/webjs

• www.webcoder.com/scriptorium/index.html

• http://javascript.internet.com/ (930 scripts at last count)

• www.crays.com/jsc/ (The JavaScript Corral)

• www.j-scripts.com/

• www.hotscripts.com/javascript/scripts_and_programs/

• www.javascriptmall.com/

• www. tek-tips .com/gfaq.cfm/lev2/4/lev3/32/spid/216

• www.a1javascripts.com/

In addition, some groups on Usenet are devoted to discussing JavaScript (note that not all newsgroups will be supported on all news servers):

• comp.lang.javascript

• microsoft.public.scripting.jscript

• microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.jscript

• microsoft.public.inetsdk.programming.scripting.jscript

As you can see, you can access many JavaScript resources on the Internet. This book is designed to provide all you need, but if you can't find it here, you might check the Internetand be sure to let me know what you've missed so I can add it to the next edition!

That's it for our foundation chapter. We've gotten a solid JavaScript start here, and a good foundation on which to build. We've created our first scripts, played around with the <SCRIPT> element, and even determined what browser a script is running in. Now we're going to start really digging into JavaScript, beginning in Chapter 2, where we start seeing how to handle data, including numbers and text.