Head First JavaScript Programming

Appendix A. Leftovers: The top ten topics (we didn’t cover)

We’ve covered a lot of ground, and you’re almost finished with this book. We’ll miss you, but before we let you go, we wouldn’t feel right about sending you out into the world without a little more preparation. We can’t possibly fit everything you’ll need to know into this relatively small chapter. Actually, we did originally include everything you need to know about JavaScript Programming (not already covered by the other chapters), by reducing the type point size to .00004. It all fit, but nobody could read it. So we threw most of it away, and kept the best bits for this Top Ten appendix. This really is the end of the book. Except for the index, of course (a must-read!).

#1 jQuery

jQuery is a JavaScript library that is aimed at reducing and simplifying much of the JavaScript code and syntax that is needed to work with the DOM and add visual effects to your pages. jQuery is an enormously popular library that is widely used and expandable through its plug-in model.

Now, there’s nothing you can do in jQuery that you can’t do with JavaScript (as we said, jQuery is just a JavaScript library); however, it does have the power to reduce the amount of code you need to write.

jQuery’s popularity speaks for itself, although it can take some getting used to if you are new to it. Let’s check out a few things you ...