JavaScript influences
Back in ‘99 I wrote my first lines of JavaScript, having instantly fallen in love with it and what can be done. One of my first projects when I was studying in the spring back then was a small campaign web site 
for a flavored childrens milk called MUUmjölk (Moo-milk). Please note that, for apparent reasons, the web site only works in Internet Explorer and Netscape 4 (the year after I was writing AJAX-like applications :-)).
Anyway…
What I wanted to talk about are the books that really helped my JavaScript skills to evolve. The three most important ones were:
- JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan
- This book really gave me a thorough understanding of JavaScript and the mechanisms behind it. A book I’d recommend to anyone starting with JavaScript today.
- JavaScript Objects by Tom Myers and Alexander Nakhimovsky
- It’s about an object-oriented approach to JavaScript and it really has got some interesting parts. Not for beginners.
- Dynamic HTML: The Definitive Reference by Danny Goodman
- Probably the first book about web developing I read. Introduced some cool features and inspired me to think outside the box.
At least the first two would probably still be applicable today, although they might need some updating to scripting with the DOM. I also remember reading Stefan Koch’s Vodoo’s Introduction To JavaScript.
Back in 2002 I was asked by WROX to write a FAQ about JavaScript that was published in their P2P forums. Unfortunately, after their bankruptcy and redesign, all the FAQs on their web site were removed.
And remember, folks: It’s not hard nowadays to get your script to work in different web browsers. Just use the methods and properties supplied by the DOM. The only substantial difference between Internet Explorer and all other web browsers, though, is that Internet Explorer doesn’t support the standardized event model (see link below).
Where to go from here
The first three are links with introduction to how to approach the DOM. The second two are more in-depth articles and writings about JavaScript. Happy scripting!
- Introduction to the Document Object Model by BrainJar
- Scripting For The 6.0 Browsers by Scott Andrew
- Crossbrowser DOM Scripting: Event Handlers by Scott Andrew (if you really want to dig deep in this field, read addEvent() recoding contest)
- QuirksMode by Peter-Paul Koch
- WebFX by Erik Arvidsson and Emil A. Eklund
Updated! Links to references:
- Gecko DOM Reference
- HTML and DHTML Reference
- JavaScript page at Mozilla
- JScript reference (JScript is Microsoft’s implementation of JavaScript)
