Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

JavaScript's Language Is Complete

JavaScript supports almost as many language elements as a fully compiled language such as Visual Basic or C++. This massive vocabulary is rare for a scripting language. As you look through JavaScript code, you'll find many statements that appear in C and C++ that quickly show the roots of the JavaScript language. (Chapter 13, “Programming with C,” and Chapter 14, “Programming with C++,” contain the review for C and C++.)

The size of the JavaScript language is crucial to give programmers the ability to respond to the user's actions. Pictures on the Web page swap due to mouse clicks and movements, calculations are performed for financial services, and menus can appear when the user needs to select an option.