Excerpts from site:

Note: These excerpts are from the introduction page http://home.cogeco.ca/~ve3ll/jsintro.htm - though the listed link on BookGoldMine.com is for the tutorial section.

JavaScript (aka ECMAScript) is a relatively easy way to make your website visually attractive to clients and other viewers by adding interactivity and dynamics to HTML pages. This page explains why one would use JavaScript in their HTML website design. JavaScript can also be used as a basis for writing utility programs that are platform independent. Programming concepts learned in JavaScript can be rolled over into Java or any modern object oriented language. This page also has links to JavaScript code repositories and references for those who prefer not to reinvent wheels. And finally for those who do prefer to roll their own there are my programming notes, some introductory tutorials, large projects, small projects and form projects pages.

Why would you want to learn to program in JavaScript when there are so many canned scripts available for cutting and pasting into your own pages. Here are a few good reasons:

* Sometimes you want to customize a canned program to make it unique.
* Some functions that you want to accomplish have not been written yet.
* Many scripts are browser-centric (notably MSIE) or out of date.
* JavaScript is cross-platform. You can write programs that work on Windows, MacIntosh and Linux systems.
* Application users do not have to bother with downloading a JavaScript application, they just access your webpage. And version control is simple as there is one active version -- the one on your website.
* JavaScript syntax is similar to that of C and Java so it makes a good starting point on a programming career.
* No proprietary development system is required. A simple editor is all that you need to write Javascript code. A browser is all that is needed to run JavaScript.
* JavaScript code is open source and freely available.

JavaScript is a scripted language which is object oriented, event-driven, and platform independent. Each of these 'modern' concepts in programming methodology are easier to work with in 'new' languages rather than being bolted on to older ones. This makes JavaScript a 'good' choice for learning your first programming language.

NOTE: Quite often user input is through the forms object and output is through the document object. A thorough knowledge of these two objects is very important for your programming success.

I have prepared a series of introductory tutorials on JavaScript programming. The first few tutorials have some short snippets that do interesting things. Those who only cut and paste code may find something useful while cruising through these tutorials. Give it a try!

JavaScript is a very capable language that can produce worthwhile code. For example:

* Chess is a complete analysis of how a chess program can be coded
* AsciiMath interprets a simple syntax of mathematical text into formulas
* FormFaces implements Xforms syntax for use in any browser