What we did

Reports from our 2016 Meetings

January and February 2016

At the January and February meetings John Symonds presented an Introduction to Javascript.

Where does Javascript fit in to web design?. It is one of the 3 languages web developers can use to build a site

1. HTML is used to define the content of web pages
2. CSS is used to specify the layout of web pages
3. JavaScript is used to program the behaviour of web pages

There are many things that Javascript can do that can't be done with HTML. Here are just a few

• Build dynamic web pages
• Display alert boxes
• Open new browser windows
• Customise reactions to mouse actions and keystrokes
• Validate information in forms
• Perform calculations
• Display messages when the cursor rolls over an object on the screen
• Create interactive forms
• Set date and time

We learned that Javascript can be placed in the and the sections of an HTML page.

In HTML, JavaScript code must be inserted between tags.

Scripts can also be placed in external files.

External scripts are practical when the same code is used in many different web pages.

JavaScript files have the file extension .js

We then moved on to a number of simple scripts demonstrating the structure, syntax and functionality of Javascript starting with writing “Hello World” to the screen.
We also covered function calls, opening and closing windows, while loops and mouse rollover.

At the February meeting we started with defining the five primitive data types and looked at comparison and logical operators.

There are many useful Javascript training videos on YouTube.

To better understand JavaScript’s implementation of Object Oriented Programming (OOP) we watched a video from TheNewBoston

We followed this up with a series of code snippets showing the functionality of OOP and demonstrating how to use an Object's properties.

One specific type of Object is an Array. We watched a video discussing Array Properties and Methods and usues.

In the two sessions we barely scratched the surface of the power of Javascript. What I learnt in preparing the tutorials was that no one resource will give you the full picture.

The two resources I found the most useful as a beginner were

Coding with Javascript for Dummies by Chris Minnik and Eva Holland

and TheNewBoston online tutorials hhttps://thenewboston.com/

John Symonds