Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja

Summary

Secrets of the Javascript Ninja takes you on a journey towards mastering modern JavaScript development in three phases: design, construction, and maintenance. Written for JavaScript developers with intermediate-level skills, this book will give you the knowledge you need to create a cross-browser JavaScript library from the ground up.

About this Book

You can't always attack software head-on. Sometimes you come at it sideways or sneak up from behind. You need to master an arsenal of tools and know every stealthy trick. You have to be a ninja.

Secrets of the JavaScript Ninja leads you down the pathway to JavaScript enlightenment. This unique book starts with key concepts, like the relationships between functions, objects, and closures, taught from the master's perspective. You'll grow from apprentice to ninja as you soak up fresh insights on the techniques you use every day and discover features and capabilities you never knew about. When you reach the final chapters, you'll be ready to code brilliant JavaScript applications and maybe even write your own libraries and frameworks.

You don't have to be a ninja to read this book—just be willing to become one. Are you ready?

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

What's Inside

• Functions, objects, closures, regular expressions, and more
• Seeing applications and libraries from the right perspective
• Dealing with the complexities of cross-browser development
• Modern JavaScript design

About the Authors

John Resig is an acknowledged JavaScript authority and the creator of the jQuery library. Bear Bibeault is a web developer and coauthor of Ajax in Practice, Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action, and jQuery in Action from Manning.

Table of Contents

PART 1 PREPARING FOR TRAINING

1. Enter the ninja
2. Arming with testing and debugging

PART 2 APPRENTICE TRAINING

3. Functions are fundamental
4. Wielding functions
5. Closing in on closures
6. Object-orientation with prototypes
7. Wrangling regular expressions
8. Taming threads and timers

PART 3 NINJA TRAINING

9. Ninja alchemy: runtime code evaluation
10. With statements
11. Developing cross-browser strategies
12. Cutting through attributes, properties, and CSS

PART 4 MASTER TRAINING

13. Surviving events
14. Manipulating the DOM
15. CSS selector engines