Over the past few years, there s been a small renaissance in JavaScript as a language. A variety of projects have sprung up to build reusable JS libraries and frameworks and at this point, a good number of them have matured and shown staying power that they re worth taking a serious look at and relying on in professional projects.
JavaScript has grown in popularity in parallel with the Web and today is supported by all major browsers and new web technologies. JavaScript has been extended over time to deliver high-performing and incredibly impressive Web user experiences, using technologies including Adobe Flash, AJAX, and Microsoft Silverlight.
As JavaScript is used increasingly for serious development on the Web, the lessons that have been learned and the tools that have been invented along the way are being consolidated and shared by developers in the form of libraries and frameworks. However, since JavaScript is such a flexible and dynamic language, each framework can present very different approaches to the problems of web development each with its own pros and cons.
Coverage of the individual libraries and frameworks includes:
- Prototype: Extending and Enhancing DOM Elements
- Prototype: Handling Cross-Browser Events
- Prototype: Simplifying AJAX and Dynamic Data
- Prototype: Working with Forms
- Prototype: Manipulating Common Data Structures and Functions
- Prototype: Extending Prototype
- Yahoo! User Interface Library (YUI): Traversing and Manipulating the DOM with YUI
- YUI: Handling Cross-Browser Events
- YUI: Using Animation and Drag and Drop
- YUI: Simplifying AJAX and Dynamic Loading
- YUI: Building User Interfaces with Widgets
- Enhancing Development with the YUI Core
- YUI: Dealing with Data, Tables, and Charts
- Working with YUI CSS Tools
- Building and Deploying YUI
- ExtJS: Architecture and Library Conventions
- ExtJS: Elements, DomHelper, and Templates
- ExtJS: Components, Layouts, and Windows
- ExtJS: Handling Data and Talking with the Server
- ExtJS: DataViews and Grids
- ExtJS: Form Controls, Validation
- Dojo: Enhancing Development with Dojo Core
- Dojo: Manipulating the DOM
- Dojo: Handling Events
- Dojo: Composing Animations
- Dojo: Working with AJAX and Dynamic Data
- Dojo: Building User Interfaces with Widgets
- Building and Deploying Dojo
- Expanding Dojo
- Enhancing Development with MooTools
- MooTools: Manipulating the DOM and Handling Events
- MooTools: Simplifying AJAX and Handling Dynamic Data
- MooTools: Building User Interfaces and Using Animation