1. Getting Acquainted with JavaScript

In This Chapter

What JavaScript Is 2

JavaScript Isn’t Java 3

Where JavaScript Came From 5

What JavaScript Can Do 6

What JavaScript Can’t Do 7

What Is Ajax? 8

The Snap-Together Language 11

Handling Events 14

Values and Variables 15

Writing JavaScript-Friendly HTML 17

What Tools to Use? 20

For Web site creators, the evolution of HTML has been a mixed blessing. In the early days of the World Wide Web, HTML was fairly simple, and it was easy to learn everything you needed to put together Web pages.

As the Web grew, page designers wanted their pages to interact with users, and it soon became obvious that HTML was insufficient to handle the demand. Netscape invented JavaScript as a way to control the browser and ...

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