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Murach’s JavaScript (2nd Edition)
by Mary Delamater
17 chapters, 630 pages, 259 illustrations
Published September 2015
ISBN 978-1-890774-85-1
17 chapters, 630 pages, 259 illustrations
Published September 2015
ISBN 978-1-890774-85-1
List price: $54.50
If you want to teach an intense course on JavaScript with just an introductory chapter on jQuery, this is the right book. For most JavaScript courses, though, we recommend our JavaScript and jQuery book.
That’s because every web developer today should know how to use JavaScript for what it does best and jQuery for what it does best. That’s what the latest edition of Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery shows your students how to do. We think that’s the right didactic approach for most JavaScript courses, and ours is the only book that takes that approach.
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I bought this book to fill in the massive hole a Deitel book leaves in a college course. The two-page topic style is great. Others have commented on the Pros of this book in depth so I will only add that I have found no cons to date. I am looking into other Murach titles!"
Posted at an online bookseller
- About this Book
- Table of Contents
- Courseware
- FAQs
- Corrections
Book description
To present the JavaScript skills that you need today in a manageable progression, this book is divided into three sections, representing the three levels of expertise that your students will achieve with this book.
Section 1: Get your students off to a great start
- Section 1 of this book presents a six-chapter course in JavaScript that gets your students off to a great start. This section works for programming beginners as well as students with some programming experience because the pace is adjustable. Beginners can move through the material slowly and do all the exercises. Students with some programming experience can move more quickly and do just the exercises that you assign.
- Either way, when they finish this section, your students will be able to develop real-world JavaScript applications of their own. This will put your course far ahead of what you can accomplish with competing books.
Section 2: Make sure they master the JavaScript essentials
- Section 2 presents the essential JavaScript skills that every web developer should have. The six chapters in this section not only expand upon what your students have learned in section 1, but they also present new skills, like how to use arrays, web storage, and JavaScript libraries...how to create object-oriented JavaScript applications... how to handle exceptions...and how to use regular expressions.
- For some courses, this may be as far as you need to go because sections 1 and 2 are a solid JavaScript course by themselves.
Section 3: Take your students to the expert level
- If you have the time and your students are ready for it, section 3 presents the advanced skills that will take them to the expert level. This includes skills like how to work with events, images, and timers as they build applications like image rollovers and slide shows...how to use closures, callbacks, namespaces, and the module pattern to make applications bulletproof...and how to use JSON to transmit and store data. This section finishes with an introduction to jQuery that shows your students how jQuery can be used for the DOM scripting in JavaScript applications so the code is easier to read, debug, and maintain.
What courses this book can be used for
From the start, we designed this book with both beginning and advanced students in mind. We also wanted to include all of the skills that a professional JavaScript programmer needs on the job. A tall order, for sure, but that’s why this book can be used for:
- a beginning JavaScript course
- an advanced JavaScript course
- a two-semester JavaScript course
Related books for related courses
If your JavaScript course includes jQuery instead of being a pure JavaScript course, we have a newer book that will probably be a better fit for you: Murach’s JavaScript and jQuery (4th Edition). The first section covers JavaScript essentials, the second covers jQuery essentials, and the third covers advanced JavaScript features that you may want to teach if you have time. You can take a look at the table of contents to see whether this is the edition that’s right for your curriculum.
And if you offer an HTML and CSS course in your program, please consider our HTML5 and CSS3 book. It’s designed to work seamlessly with any of our JavaScript and jQuery texts in a two- or three-course sequence. It uses our unique teaching methods so your students will learn more in less time. And it’s the only book that ensures that your students will learn the HTML and CSS skills that are actually used on the job.
What's new in this edition
The first edition of this book was published in 2009, and it quickly developed a following. However, a lot has changed since then. In particular, jQuery is now used by 60% of the one million most-visited websites, and it no longer makes sense to use JavaScript for the type of DOM scripting that jQuery is designed for.
For that reason, the new edition has dropped the section 3 focus on DOM scripting. Instead, all three sections focus on just the JavaScript skills that professionals need on the job. But that includes advanced skills like how to use closures, callbacks, namespaces, and the module pattern to build bulletproof applications.
Beyond that, some instructors thought that the first edition was too difficult for programming beginners, and we agreed. For that reason, section 1 has been completely rewritten so it works for both beginners and experienced programmers.
So, for those of you who used the first edition in your courses, the short answer to “What’s new?” is “Just about everything.” In section 2, you may recognize some of the best features of that section in the first edition, but even that has been improved with more examples and more complete applications. As we see it, if you liked the first edition at all, you’re going to find that this 2nd Edition is a dramatic improvement...in every way.
What's new with ECMAScript 2015 and 2016
Because this book was published in 2015, it doesn’t present all of the new features that are in the ECMAScript 2015 and 2016 specifications. If you want to include some of those features in your course, however, we offer a FREE PDF download called “What’s new with ECMAScript 2015 and 2016” that presents all of those features plus the Internationalization API. This PDF is both tutorial and reference, and it makes it easy for your students to add the new skills to their skillsets.
Your students can access this download by going to the FREE Downloads tab on the book page on our retail site. And you can download this PDF right now.
What software your students need
To develop JavaScript applications, your students need:
- any text editor
- Google Chrome along with the default browser: Internet Explorer for Windows users and Safari for Mac OS users
Although your students can use any text editor with this book, a text editor that includes syntax coloring and auto-formatting will help them develop applications more quickly and with fewer errors. In the book, we recommend Aptana Studio 3; however, it’s no longer supported and has become hard to install.
So now, we recommend Brackets. It’s available for free, it can be used for entering JavaScript and jQuery code (as well as HTML and CSS code), and it runs on Windows, Mac OS, and Linux systems. To help your students get started with installing and using Brackets, we’ve created a Brackets tutorial that you can use in place of the Aptana material in the book. You can distribute this to your students or have them download it from the book page at our retail website.
To test a web page, your students can use the default browser on their systems. But we recommend that they also test their pages in Chrome, which includes a terrific set of developer tools. Appendix A provides a procedure for installing Chrome, and chapter 6 shows how to use Chrome for debugging.
What people say about this book
“I have several books on JavaScript, but the best one is this one. The text, examples, descriptions, and even the layout all bring you an ease of use that is missing in other books.”
- Chris Wallace, Denver Visual Studio User Group
“There are a plethora of source code examples that are introduced and improved as new concepts are introduced. An excellent resource for newbies and experienced developers.”
- Mike Redlich, ACGNJ Java Users Group
“This book more clearly teaches JavaScript than any other book that I have seen.
“One of its strengths is the examples it uses to teach JavaScript. It contains complete examples of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript code. In those example codes, the authors clearly highlight which elements are referenced in the different parts of the JavaScript. This book allows the reader to develop a clearer understanding of how each JavaScript component works without ambiguity.”
- Eric Mortensen, Northeast Ohio Oracle Users Group
“This book employs the paired-pages format that Murach is known for: For each topic the right page contains a figure with example code, diagrams, tables and bullet points, and the left page contains the explanatory text. I like this format a lot because it keeps the book well-organized and makes it easy to refer back to….
“The paired-pages format and the end-of-chapter exercises are the main reasons why I use and recommend Murach books for people looking to learn a new technology.”
- Bruce Alspaugh, St. Louis Java Users Group
“Comparing Murach's Javascript to the six or seven other Javascript books I've bought in the past three years, I think it has the best blend of practicality, coverage, and clarity.”
- Posted at Amazon
To view the table of contents for this book in a PDF, just click on the link below:
Section 1 Get off to a fast start with JavaScript
Chapter 1 Introduction to web development
How a web application works
The components of a web application
How static web pages are processed
How dynamic web pages are processed
How JavaScript is used for client-side processing
What you need to know about the ECMAScript specification
The components of a JavaScript application
The HTML
The CSS
The JavaScript
The HTML skills that you need for this book
How to use the HTML5 semantic elements
How to use the div and span elements
How to use the basic HTML attributes
The CSS skills that you need for this book
How to provide the CSS styles for an HTML page
How to code the basic CSS selectors
How to code CSS rule sets
How to test a JavaScript application
How to run a JavaScript application
How to find errors in your code
How to provide cross-browser compatibility
How to use Aptana to develop JavaScript applications
How to create or import a project
How to work with files
How to edit a file
How to run a JavaScript application
Chapter 2 Getting started with JavaScript
How to include JavaScript in an HTML document
Two ways to include JavaScript in the head of an HTML document
How to include JavaScript in the body of an HTML document
The JavaScript syntax
How to code JavaScript statements
How to create identifiers
How to use comments
How to use objects, methods, and properties
How to use the write and writeln methods of the document object
How to work with JavaScript data
The primitive data types
How to code numeric expressions
How to work with numeric variables
How to work with string and Boolean variables
How to use the parseInt and parseFloat methods
Two illustrative applications
The Miles Per Gallon application
The Test Scores application
Chapter 3 The essential JavaScript statements
How to code the basic control statements
How to code conditional expressions
How to code if statements
How to code while and do-while loops
How to code for loops
Three illustrative applications
The enhanced Miles Per Gallon application
The Future Value application
The enhanced Test Scores application
How to work with arrays
How to create and use arrays
How to use for loops to work with arrays
The Test Scores application with an array
The user interface
The JavaScript
Chapter 4 How to work with JavaScript objects, functions, and events
How to use objects to work with data
How to use the window and document objects
How to use Textbox and Number objects
How to use Date and String objects
How to use the DOM to change the text for an element
How to use functions
How to create and call a function expression
How to create and call a function declaration
When and how to use local and global variables
When and how to use strict mode
How to handle events
How to attach an event handler to an event
How to use an onload event handler to attach other event handlers
Two illustrative applications
The Miles Per Gallon application
The Email List application
Chapter 5 How to script forms and controls
DOM scripting properties and methods
DOM scripting concepts
The properties of the Node interface
The methods of the Document and Element interfaces
The properties of the DOM HTML specification
The FAQs application
The HTML and CSS
The JavaScript
How to script forms and controls
How forms work
How to script Textbox, Textarea, and Select objects
How to script Radio and Checkbox objects
How to use the methods and events for forms and controls
The Register application
The HTML and CSS
The JavaScript
How to add new nodes to the DOM
How to create nodes and add them to the DOM
How to add rows and cells to a DOM table
The Register application with a table
The HTML and CSS
The JavaScript
Chapter 6 How to test and debug a JavaScript application
An introduction to testing and debugging
Typical test phases for a JavaScript application
The three types of errors that can occur
Common JavaScript errors
How top-down coding and testing can simplify debugging
How to debug with Chrome’s developer tools
How to use Chrome to find errors
How to use breakpoints and step through your code
Other debugging methods
How to debug in Internet Explorer
How to trace the execution of your JavaScript code
How to view the source code
When and how to validate the HTML
Section 2 JavaScript essentials
Chapter 7 How to work with numbers, strings, and dates
How to work with numbers
How to use the properties and methods of the Number object
How to use the methods of the Math object
How to generate a random number
The PIG application
The HTML
The JavaScript
How to work with strings
How to use escape sequences in strings
How to use the methods of the String object
Examples of working with strings
How to work with dates and times
How to create Date objects
The methods of the Date object
Examples of working with dates
The Count Down application
The HTML and CSS
The JavaScript
Chapter 8 How to code control statements
How to code conditional expressions
How to use the equality and identity operators
How to use the relational operators
How to use the logical operators
How to code the selection structures
How to code if statements
How to code switch statements
How to use the conditional operator
How to use the AND and OR operators for selections
The Invoice application
The HTML
The JavaScript
How to code the iteration structures
How to code while and do-while loops
How to code for loops
How to use the break and continue statements
Chapter 9 How to work with arrays and web storage
How to create and use an array
How to create an array
How to add and delete array elements
How to use for loops to work with arrays
How to use for-in loops to work with arrays
How to use the methods of an Array object
The methods of an Array object
Examples of the Array methods
The ECMAScript 5 methods
Examples of the ECMAScript 5 methods
Other skills for working with arrays
How to use a String method to create an array
How to create and use an associative array
How to create and use an array of arrays
How to use web storage
How to use local and session storage
How to use Chrome to view and edit items in web storage
The Task Manager application
The HTML and CSS
The JavaScript
The JavaScript with an ECMAScript 5 enhancement
Chapter 10 How to create and use functions
Basic skills for working with functions
How to create and call a function
How values are passed to functions
How lexical scope works
How to create and use JavaScript libraries
The Task Manager application
The HTML and CSS
The storage library
The task list library
The main JavaScript file
Object-oriented skills for working with functions
How to use the arguments property of a function
How to use the this keyword and the call and apply methods
How to use the bind method to set the this keyword
Chapter 11 How to create and use objects
Basic skills for working with objects
How to create and use the native object types
How to create your own objects with object literals
How to extend, modify, or delete an object
How to create your own object types with constructor functions
What you need to know about JavaScript prototypes
How prototypes work
When and how to create custom prototypes
How to use the create method of the Object object
The Task Manager application
The HTML and CSS
The storage library
The task library
The task list library
The main JavaScript file
Advanced skills for working with objects
How to inherit methods from another object with Object.create methods
How to inherit methods from another object with constructors
How to add methods to the native object types
How to create cascading methods
How to use the in, instanceof, and typeof operators
The enhanced Task Manager application
The new native objects library
The change to the task library
The enhanced storage library
The enhanced task list library
The enhanced main JavaScript file
Chapter 12 How to use regular expressions, handle exceptions, and validate data
How to use regular expressions
How to create and use regular expressions
How to create regular expression patterns
How to use the global and multiline flags
String methods that use regular expressions
Regular expressions for data validation
How to handle exceptions
How to create and throw Error objects
How to use the try-catch statement to handle exceptions
The Register application
The user interface
The HTML and CSS
The navigate and fields libraries
The validate library
The validate_form library
The main JavaScript code
Section 3 Advanced JavaScript skills
Chapter 13 How to work with events, images, and timers
How to work with events
An overview of event types
How to attach and detach event handlers
How to cancel the default action of an event
The FAQs application
The user interface
The event library
The main JavaScript file
How to work with images
How to create image rollovers
How to preload images
The Rollover application
The HTML
The main JavaScript file
How to use timers
How to use a one-time timer
How to use an interval timer
The Slide Show application
The HTML
The slideshow library
The main JavaScript file
Chapter 14 How to work with closures, callbacks, and recursion
Introduction to closures
How the scope chain works
How closures work
Closures in the Rollover application
How to use closures
How to use closures to create private state
How to code an immediately invoked function expression (IIFE)
How to use an IIFE to create block scope
How to solve the closure loop problem
How to work with the this keyword in closures
The Slide Show application
The HTML
The slide show library
The main JavaScript file
How to use callbacks
How callback functions work
How to create and use callback functions
How to work with the this keyword in callback functions
How to use recursion
How recursion works
How to code and use a binary search recursive function
The Task Manager application
The HTML
The storage library file
The task list library file
The main JavaScript file
Chapter 15 How to work with namespaces, modules, and custom properties
How to work with namespaces
The global namespace pollution problem
How to create and use namespaces
How to create nested namespaces and use aliases
How to prevent global pollution with an IIFE
The Task Manager application
The namespace library
The storage library
The task list library
The main JavaScript file
How to work with the module pattern
What the module pattern is
How to augment a module
The Slide Show application
The HTML
The slide show library
The slide show enhancements library
The main JavaScript file
How to customize properties
The attributes of an object property
How to enumerate an object’s properties
The defineProperty method of the Object object
How to use the defineProperty method
How to use the defineProperties and create methods of the Object object
How to inspect property attributes
The enhanced Slide Show application
The slide show library
The slide show enhancements library
The main JavaScript file
Chapter 16 How to work with JavaScript Object Notation (JSON)
An introduction to JSON
What data serialization and deserialization are
How data formats work
What JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) is
How to work with JSON in JavaScript
An introduction to the global JSON object
How to use the stringify method of the JSON object
How to use the parse method of the JSON object
The Task Manager application
The HTML
The JSON string in local storage
The main JavaScript file
How to customize the stringify method
How to use the toJSON method
How to use a toJSON method to customize the Task Manager application
How to use the replacer parameter of the stringify method
How to use the space parameter of the stringify method
The serialization order of the stringify method
How to customize the parse method
How to use the reviver parameter of the parse method
Some problems with checking if a string is a date
The enhanced Task Manager application
The JSON string in local storage
The storage library
The main JavaScript file
Chapter 17 When and how to use jQuery
Introduction to jQuery
What jQuery is
When to use jQuery
How to include jQuery in a web page
How to code jQuery selectors, methods, and event methods
Some common jQuery selectors, methods, and event methods
How to use jQuery to simplify the FAQs application
The Email List application in jQuery
The HTML
The jQuery
Introduction to jQuery UI
What jQuery UI is
How to include jQuery UI in a web page
How to use any jQuery UI widget
How to use the Accordion widget to implement the FAQs application
Introduction to jQuery plugins
How to find jQuery plugins
How to use any jQuery plugin
How to use the bxSlider plugin for carousels
How to create your own plugins
The structure of a plugin
How to code a plugin that highlights the items in a menu
How to add options to a plugin
If you aren’t already familiar with the supporting courseware that we provide for a book, please go to About our Courseware. As you will see, our courseware consists of the end-of-chapter activities in the book, the files in the student download at our retail site, and the instructor’s materials. These components provide everything that other publishers provide in a way that delivers better results.
If you are familiar with our courseware, here’s a quick summary of the courseware for this book. For a detailed description in PDF format, please read the Instructor’s Summary.
End-of-chapter activities in the book
- Term lists
- Chapter summaries
- Practice exercises
Student download at our retail site
- HTML, CSS, and JavaScript source code for all the applications that are presented in the book
- Starting source code for the exercises in the book
- Solutions to the book exercises
Appendix A in the book gives your students complete instructions for downloading and installing these items on a PC or Mac.
Instructor’s materials
- Instructional objectives by chapter
- PowerPoint slides for classroom presentations
- Test banks in multiple formats
- Extra chapter exercises that aren’t in the book, plus their solutions
- Short exercises that aren’t in the book that can be used for added practice, quizzes, or tests, plus their solutions
- The files that students can download at our retail site: (1) the book applications, (2) starting points for the exercises in the book, and (3) solutions to the exercises in the book
To view the "Frequently Asked Questions" for this book in a PDF, just click on this link: View the questions
Then, if you have any questions that aren't answered here, please email us. Thanks!
To view the corrections for this book in a PDF, just click on this link: View the corrections
Then, if you find any other errors, please email us so we can correct them in the next printing of the book. Thank you!
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