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Learning JavaScript

JavaScript is a programming language that allows you to implement complex things on web pages. This includes

• Display static information for you to look at
• Displaying timely content updates, or interactive maps, or animated 2D/3D graphics
• Scrolling video jukeboxes, etc.

JavaScript is probably the third layer of the layer cake of standard web technologies, two of which (HTML and CSS).

Why JavaScript?

• All browsers process JavaScript
• Many web services rely on JavaScript in browser
• JavaScript can be used in your own web pages
• Understand what other web pages are doing
• It is easy to start
• It is easy to do useful things with it
• In JavaScript programming ideas carry over into other languages

Syntax

We will describe basic syntactic principles of JavaScript.

 

Note the two different uses of the equals sign:

• A single equals sign (=) is used to assign a value to a variable.
• A triple equals sign (===) is used to compare two values (see Equality Operators).

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