A Software Engineer Learns HTML5 JavaScript & JQuery - Dane Cameron

Preface JavaScript (and its frameworks such as jQuery) and HTML (along with its style sheet language CSS) have become a ubiquitous presence in software development. Due to their monopoly position in web browsers, and the fact web browsers have spread from PCs to phones, tablets and TVs; this pervasiveness will continue to grow and grow. Despite their success, many software engineers are apprehensive about JavaScript and HTML. This apprehensiveness is not completely unfounded; both JavaScript and HTML were rushed in their early years, and driven by commercial rather than engineering interests. As a result, many dubious features crept into these languages. Due to backwards compatibility concerns, most of these features still remain. In addition, many software engineers have used these languages without ever learning them. JavaScript and HTML have low barriers to entry, and this, along with their similarity to other languages, led many software engineers to conclude that there really was nothing much to learn. If you have not used JavaScript and HTML for a number of years you may be surprised at what they now offer. Browser based web applications are now capable of matching or exceeding the sophistication and scale of traditional desktop applications. In order to create complex web applications however, it is essential to learn these languages. This book takes the point of view that once you have a strong grasp of the fundamentals, the details will take care of themselves. It will not present you with long lists of APIs, or intricate details of every attribute, these can be found in reference manuals. It will focus on the details of each language that are fundamental to understanding how they work. I hope this book helps you discover the elegance and beauty of JavaScript and HTML, and makes you think differently about what can be achieved with these languages. October, 2013