Skip to Main Content
Professional, JavaScript® for Web Developers, Second Edition
book

Professional, JavaScript® for Web Developers, Second Edition

by Nicholas C. Zakas
January 2009
Intermediate to advanced content levelIntermediate to advanced
836 pages
21h 30m
English
Wrox
Content preview from Professional, JavaScript® for Web Developers, Second Edition

Appendix B. JavaScript Tools

Writing JavaScript is a lot like writing in any other programming language except that, until recently, there were fewer tools. Since 2000, the number of tools available for JavaScript developers has exploded, making it much easier to locate problems, optimize, and deploy JavaScript-based solutions. Some of the tools are designed to be used from JavaScript, whereas others can be run outside the browser. This appendix provides an overview of some of these tools, as well as additional resources for more information.

Debuggers

At one time, debugging JavaScript meant including a series of alerts to follow code execution through an application. That time is long past since each of the four major browsers—Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Safari, and Opera—have at least one JavaScript debugger available. Some of the debuggers are available for free and others require purchasing a license, but all of them give you greater insight into how your JavaScript code is functioning.

Microsoft Script Debugger

This is an old debugger designed for use with IE 6.0 and earlier, though it works with later versions. The Microsoft Script Debugger is a free tool that provides basic debugging functionality, including breakpoints, stepping through code, and call-stack information. This utility is very basic and, although it works, is very far behind the times when it comes to JavaScript debuggers.

  • Price: Free

  • Browsers: IE 6.0 and earlier

  • Web site: http://www.microsoft.com/Downloads/details.aspx?familyid=2F465BE0-94FD-4569-B3C4-DFFDF19CCD99 ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Start your free trial

You might also like

Professional: JavaScript® for Web Developers, Third Edition

Professional: JavaScript® for Web Developers, Third Edition

Nicholas C. Zakas
JavaScript: Best Practice

JavaScript: Best Practice

James Kolce, Moritz Kroger, Ivan Curic, Samier Saeed, Jeff Mott, M. David Green, Craig Buckler

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780470227800Purchase book