SEM News: JavaScript Talk (Video) - Search Engine Marketing

Yahoo’s Douglas Crockford some time ago gave an interesting introductory talk about probably the most misunderstood (and most used) programming language in the world: JavaScript. Videos and PowerPoint slides [ZIP] are available and worth a look (you can also download the video series). You’ll learn about the history of JavaScript and how the language got its misnomer name, the difference between null and undefined, how { } don’t have scope unless it’s a function, why to avoid with, how to set-up objects, when to use == and when === (and != and !== respectively), turning something into a boolean via !!, and more. In his talk, Crockford as best JavaScript book suggests O’Reilly’s JavaScript: The Defintive Guide (disclosure: I’m working with O’Reilly). Another talk by Crockford introduces the HTML Document Object Model, with more slides [ZIP] available. [Via Chris Whetherell/ Steve Jenson.]