Supercharged JavaScript Graphics

Preface

Having been a video game developer for many years and being used to working with high-performance programming languages and hardware, I initially had modest expectations of graphics programming with JavaScript. What I actually found was an excellent and efficient programming language that is continually being leveraged with better browsers, performance enhancements, and exciting new facilities. Combined with features such as Canvas, JavaScript offers web developers a truly viable alternative to plug-ins such as Adobe Flash, and features such as WebGL ensure a very bright future for graphics programming using JavaScript and a browser.

This book is for those who have a good working knowledge of JavaScript and would like to experiment with graphics programming that goes beyond simple hover effects or relying purely on the animation facilities of libraries such as jQuery. Within these pages, I cover various graphics-related subjects, including:

• Reusing and optimizing code, including inheritance techniques and performance tips

• Taking advantage of the surprising graphics power of regular DOM manipulation (DHTML)

• Using the Canvas element for additional graphics power

• Creating video games

• Using math for creative graphics and animation

• Presenting your data in creative ways with the Google Visualizations API and Google Chart Tools

• Using jQuery effectively and developing graphically oriented jQuery plug-ins

• Creating graphically rich web applications suitable for mobile devices using jQuery ...