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Javascript: The Good Parts
Most programming languages contain good and bad parts, but
JavaScript has more than its share of the bad, having been
developed and released in a hurry before it could be
refined. This authoritative book scrapes away these bad
features to reveal a subset of JavaScript that's more
reliable, readable, and maintainable than the
language as a
whole-a subset you can use to create truly extensible and
efficient code.
Considered the JavaScript expert by many people in the
development community, author Douglas Crockford identifies
the abundance of good ideas that make JavaScript an
outstanding object-oriented programming language-ideas such
as functions, loose typing, dynamic objects, and an
expressive object literal notation. Unfortunately, these
good ideas are mixed in with bad and downright awful ideas,
like a programming model based on global variables.
When Java applets failed, JavaScript became the language of
the Web by default, making its popularity almost completely
independent of its qualities as a programming language. In
JavaScript: The Good Parts, Crockford finally digs through
the steaming pile of good intentions and blunders to give
you a detailed look at all the genuinely elegant parts of
JavaScript, including:
Syntax
Objects
Functions
Inheritance
Arrays
Regular expressions
Methods
Style
Beautiful features
The real beauty? As you move ahead with the subset of
JavaScript that this book presents, you'll also sidestep the
need to unlearn all the bad parts. Of course, if you want to
find out more about the bad parts and how to use them badly,
simply consult any other JavaScript book.
With JavaScript: The Good Parts, you'll discover a
beautiful, elegant, lightweight and highly expressive
language that lets you create effective code, whether you're
managing object libraries or just trying to get Ajax to run
fast. If you develop sites or applications for the Web, this
book is an absolute must.
CONTENTS:
Preface
1. Good Parts
Why JavaScript?
Analyzing JavaScript
A Simple Testing Ground
2. Grammar
Whitespace
Names
Numbers
Strings
Statements
Expressions
Literals
Functions
3. Objects
Object Literals
Retrieval
Update
Reference
Prototype
Reflection
Enumeration
Delete
Global Abatement
4. Functions
Function Objects
Function Literal
Invocation
Arguments
Return
Exceptions
Augmenting Types
Recursion
Scope
Closure
Callbacks
Module
Cascade
Curry
Memoization
5. Inheritance
Pseudoclassical
Object Specifiers
Prototypal
Functional
Parts
6. Arrays
Array Literals
Length
Delete
Enumeration
Confusion
Methods
Dimensions
7. Regular Expressions
An Example
Construction
Elements
8. Methods
9. Style
10. Beautiful Features
A. Awful Parts
B. Bad Parts
C. JSLint
D. Syntax Diagrams
E. JSON
Index
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