Praise for ppk…
I’m currently working my way through ppk on javascript. If you’re a webworker, you may already be aware of ppk from the website www.quircksmode.org a site he’s been running for over 8 years providing invaluable code insights, bug fixes and all manner of help with javascript.
ppk on javascript is Peter Paul Kock’s printed work, his collective javascript knowledge between the pages of a (well edited) book. The book is not really a ‘how to’ on javascript, beginners should look elsewhere for learning javascript. What the book does give us is a new understanding of javascript as it applies to the web 2.0 age. For some years now, javascript has been pretty much excluded from any ’serious’ web project. By serious I mean standards compliant e-commerce (or similar) projects that simply couldn’t risk anything more than a cursory dusting of javascript. It had developed a bad image as the ‘demon script’ that you avoid at all costs!
Javascript is now enjoying a rebirth thanks to the web 2.0 movement and in particular AJAX (javascript is a component part). Coupled with the fact that the major browsers are maturing enough to adhere to a still somewhat vague set of standards (giving the developer a more level playing field), means that javascript is now being given a second chance. The modern approach to javascript is much more passive, or unobtrusive to give its official title. Scripts are now intelligent and can scutinise their environment in a much more detailed way than previous browser sniffing techniques. This means that with a new approach to event handling, the pages containing the script are more likely to succeed in any circumstance (even when javascript is completely unavailable). The javascript of 2006 is all about enhancing usability rather than creating it and ppk on javascript provides the know-how.
ppk on javascript is available here…
Technorati Tags: ppk, www.quircksmode.org, javascript, web 2.0, AJAX
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