| JavaScript is a scripting language developed by Netscape to enable Web authors to design interactive sites. JavaScript can interact with HTML source code, enabling Web authors to spice up their sites with dynamic content. JavaScript Programming for the Absolute Beginner not only teaches you JavaScript, a great programming "gateway" language, it will teach you the fundamental programming concepts you need to grasp in order to learn any computer language. It also uses game creation as a learning tool. You will learn how to program in JavaScript and produce something at the same time! Plus, the accompanying CD will contain games that you can cut and paste right into your own Web site! This book is perfect for anyone looking for an easy, non-intimidating introduction to JavaScript and general programming concepts.
The purpose of this book is to teach you the main principles of programming. You will learn the major concepts used in most programming languages, and you will apply them specifically in JavaScript. I will use the context of game programming to teach the concepts, but you will find that you can use the techniques for purposes far beyond game programming. If you already know JavaScript, you will still probably find some new ideas in the descriptions of game programming. If you have already done some game development, you might be surprised at the things that you can do with JavaScript. If both areas are new to you, you’re going to have a great time exploring some new things.
To learn how to program a computer, you must acquire a complex progression of skills. If you have never done any programming at all, you will probably find it easiest to go through the chapters in order. Of course, if you are already an experienced programmer, it might not be necessary to do any more than skim the earliest chapters. In either case, programming is not a skill you can learn by reading. You’ll have to write programs to learn. This book has been designed to make the process reasonably painless.
Each chapter begins with a complete program that demonstrates some key ideas for the chapter. Then, you’ll look at a series of smaller programs that illustrate each of the major points of the chapter. Finally, you’ll put these concepts together to build the larger program that you saw at the opening of the chapter. You’ll be able to see important ideas in simple, straightforward code, and you’ll also see more involved programs that put multiple ideas together. All the programs are short enough that you can type them in yourself (which is a great way to look closely at code), but they are also available
on the CD-ROM.
About the Author
Andy Harris began his teaching career as a high school special education teacher. During that time, he taught himself enough computing to do part-time computer consulting and database work. He began teaching computing at the university level in the late 1980s as a part-time job. Since 1995, he has been a full-time lecturer in the Computer Science Department of Indiana University/ Purdue University—Indianapolis. He manages the IUPUI Streaming Media Lab for the department and teaches classes in several programming languages. His main interests are Java, Visual Basic, Perl, JavaScript/dynamic HTML, virtual reality, programming on portable devices, and streaming media. |
