Steve's Hot JavaScript Training - Demos - Part 2

WELCOME BACK – RECAP

Congratulations for reading through this amazing course! We are coming to a close here were we will dive in and start coding some JavaScript. Hopefully, you have seen my previous article, which contained other demos of what this language is capable of.

First, we need to continue where we left off. Do you remember what we talked about before? Yes, we talked about demos. See? You’re not as bad as you thought! I know you’ll find JavaScript can do amazing things within itself, except make your coffee (i.e. or tea, soda, etc.)!

A TIP HERE…A TIP THERE!

As we’re discussing this, I do want to say there is a difference between Java and JavaScript. Many people think Java and JavaScript are the same, or similar – they’re not! Java is a full programming language that can run directly on your machine, whereas JavaScript needs a web browser to run. This is the same as an interpreter (no, I don’t mean a language translator! An interpreter needs an extra program to run to “interpret” the code. In this case, it’s a web browser. Without it, your JS script files can’t run) in other languages, such as Python.

WELL, WHAT CAN WE DO WITH JAVASCRIPT (Continued)?

3. JavaScript Animation – JS Fireworks (more scripts at hongkiat)

This shows the potential that JavaScript can do with fireworks! There are other animations at the link inside the parenthesis. Here is the animation paused in effect:

4. JavaScript using the DOM – Pure Energy

When, I moved the mouse over to the upper right, here's what happened:

The list can go on and on and I don’t want to waste your time when you can just type “JavaScript demos” or “JavaScript DOM demos” in a search engine, which is how I got most of them. I simply wanted to get your tastebuds ready, because there are so much things to do with JavaScript and not many people are aware of its’ potential.

WHAT ABOUT ALL THESE JAVASCRIPT FRAMEWORKS I HEAR OR HAVE HEARD ABOUT?

Yes. There are many JavaScript frameworks. JQuery is the most popular at the time of this article and that’s because it has matured and can do quite a bit for such a small file size. And then there’s Mootools, Yahoo UI. After that you can get mobile JavaScript frameworks, such as PhoneGap, JQuery Mobile, iUI, and many more. If you want a features comparison Wikipedia has a good article on how to compare the features of a lot of the frameworks.

These web frameworks are there to speed up the production of your code, which is similar to what Ruby on Rails is to Ruby.

In fact, I found a great article by Krishna Prasad that explains more and you can check out more on his website.

CONCLUSION

As you can merely tell, there is a lot you can do with JavaScript. Where it lacks is what it can’t do without a web browser. Those are your stand alone desktop applications. That’s where Java comes in and universities are realizing that Java is getting easier, however JavaScript grew on its’ own, focusing on being a web scripting language. In the next part of the series, we will dive right in and explain how to write JavaScript! Get your tea ready and maybe bring in some popcorn. It will get more interesting as you progress! See you in the next part!