JavaScript Online

by Jack Wendel

NOTE: I know many of the links here are not yet in place. Please be patient as I move the files into their proper location and link them.

I developed this page simply because I got tired of all the books and
tutorials I found to teach myself JavaScript assuming I already knew a
lot about object oriented programming to start with. I hope to avoid
using ANY programming jargon and explain how to use JavaScript in plain
English that anyone without a heavy programming background can understand.

I figured if I wrote this as I learned it would:

1) Be written BEFORE I knew anything and, therefore, more accurately
assume no prior knowledge on the reader's part.

2) Reinforce what I was learning as I went. So to start, I'll give my explanation of Object Oriented programming concepts.

The basics of Object Oriented (OO) Programming

Continuing with the computer jargon, server is typically a huge computer the runs programs. A client is a smaller machine that connects to the server. The machine you are reading this from is a client. The server is the machine that holds all these web pages and runs the software to display them.

Java is a programming language and most typically is used to develop programs that run on servers. JavaScript is also a programming language but it is more frequently used to run programs on the clients. Note that this is not absolute. Java is also used to run programs on clients as well. The problem is that the program must be transferred from the server to the client and loaded onto the client before it can run. This requires Java programs of this type to be small so people won't sit bored (or go elsewhere) while the program downloads. A full blown program that runs on a server is often referred to as an 'application'. A small program that runs on a client is typically called an 'applet'. Applets tend to be small to cut down on download time. While the following is a somewhat advanced applet at this point, next I'll show how to make a separate window pop up on the screen using JavaScript.

JavaScript pop up windows

The following is a collection of JavaScript code references.

Assignment operators

Built in JavaScript objects

How to write comments in JavaScript

Arithmetic operators

Preformatted text operators

The following is a collection of JavaScript applets I have written in the process of learning JavaScript.


alert.html

combined_input.html

confirm.html

input_use.html

noscript.html

prompt.html

prompt_fill.html

sep_call.html

simple_javascript.html

writing.html

The following is a collection of JavaScript definitions.

method

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