6.10 Conclusion

ECMA Script and DHTML are powerful techniques for introducing interactivity into otherwise noninteractive iTV pages. Similar to Java, it is an interpreted language. In contrast to Java, it is not fully object oriented. Some view ECMA Script as a lightweight option when the full power of Java is not needed; its advantage is the large number of implementation currently embedding a script engine within browsers.

Today, many ECMA Script programs are performed using cut-and-paste of sample code available freely on the Internet. However, most developers of ECMA Script do not have the understanding of the semantics of the language to produce predictable results without experimentation. This chapter describes many of the deeper issues associated with the implementation of a script engine rather than the development script of code. For guidance about DHTML development you are referred to the very large body of DHTML programming books.