Introduction Intro-1
Prerequisites This course assumes that you have at least some programming experience in one or more modern programming languages. JavaScript will be particularly easy for you to learn if you have experience with any C-style languages including Java, C#, C++, or Visual Basic.NET would be helpful but this is not required. The focus here is not on programming concepts but on the structure, syntax, and use of the JavaScript language. You should also have some basic familiarity with how to build Web pages using HTML (we ll use HTML 5 in this course, but you ll be good if you ve used HTML4 or XHTML), Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), and other standard Web technologies. Intro-2
Installing the Practice Files Software Requirements Installing the Practice Files This course is written using the Google Chrome Web browser. Modern Web development mandates that you test all your code in every browser and version of every browser that the users of a Web site are likely to visit with. So we use all the modern browsers in our development work, but find that Chrome is generally the fastest with some of the best developer tools available. We just seem to be more productive using Chrome. We used the latest Stable channel version of Chrome, rather than the Beta or Developer versions. The latter two are pre-release versions, and we didn t want to deal with strange bugs as we wrote code for the course. You re welcome to use any other modern browser with this course on any platform, but you may have to spend some time figuring out how to perform some tasks. All modern browsers have the development tools you ll need either built in or available as some kind of add-in. You ll also need a text editor for creating and updating HTML files. Any text editor will do, but you ll be more productive if you use one that has some level of support for HTML and JavaScript code. Don t underestimate the value of syntax highlighting, code completion, and other features to your productivity! JavaScript Resources There are a lot of great JavaScript resources available on the Web and from other sources, and it can be overwhelming to figure out which are good and which are better ignored. You ll find a JavaScriptResources.html file in the course s sample files with a list of the best books and Web sites that we ve found. Please check it out, and let us know of any great JavaScript resources you find! The Chapter Files All of the sample files for both chapter samples and labs are either HTML Web pages or JavaScript.js files. As you work through the material, you might want to have the HTML page open in a text editor and the page loaded in Chrome with the Console panel open. This will let you go back and forth between the source code files and let you see how the page and code appear in the browser. Intro-3
Installation The Installer files provided, J8B1.exe and J8B1Labs.exe, will create the following default subfolders: C:\AppDev\J8B1\Samples and C:\AppDev\J8B1\Labs. After the files are installed, a subfolder(s) for each chapter and lab are created and placed within one of the corresponding folders. Please refer to the individual chapters to locate the correct folder. Intro-4
About the Author About the Author Don Kiely, MVP, MCSD, is a senior technology consultant specializing in developing desktop and Web applications that integrate databases and related technologies, using tools including SQL Server, Entity Framework, Visual Basic, C#, and ASP.NET. He is an invited expert on the W3C committee developing the HTML 5 standard. Don has authored and co-authored several programming books, many of which you re likely to see in the bargain bin at your local mega-bookstore. He has written for many industry journals over the years including Visual Studio Magazine, SQL Server Magazine, MSDN Magazine, CoDe Magazine, and DevConnections Magazine. Don trains developers and speaks at industry conferences, including TechEd, SQL PASS, DevConnections, DevTeach, and others, and is a member of the INETA and MSDN Canada speaker bureaus. Don is a full member of the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He earned a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Colorado, but fortunately learned the error of his ways. In his spare time he roams the Alaska wilderness by foot, dog sled, skis, canoe, and kayak. He is the volunteer president of Second Chance League, a 501(c)3 non-profit sled dog rescue organization in Interior Alaska, at www.secondchanceleague.org. Contact him at donkiely@computer.org. Intro-5
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