This is the most up-to-date book on JavaScript available, covering current standards, techniques, and practices. It provides all you need to know to hit the ground running, without making you trawl through hundreds of pages of syntax. The book contains multiple chapters on Ajax and DOM Scripting, which are two of the hottest web development and design tools available today. Using a pragmatic and thorough approach, the book ensures that even the most novice JavaScript programmers will become familiar and comfortable using the tools presented.

Christian Heilmann grew up in Germany and, after a year working with people with disabilities through the Red Cross, he spent a year as a radio producer. Beginning in 1997, he worked for several agencies in Munich as a web developer. In 2000, he moved to the U.S. to work for eToys and, after the dot-com crash, he moved to the U.K., where he currently works as a lead developer for Agilisys. He publishes an almost-daily blog at http://wait-till-i.com and runs an article repository at http://icant.co.uk. He is a member of the Web Standards Project's DOM Scripting Task Force.

Getting Started with JavaScript.- Data and Decisions.- From DHTML to DOM Scripting.- HTML and JavaScript.- Presentation and Behavior (CSS and Event Handling).- Common Uses of JavaScript: Images and Windows.- JavaScript and User Interaction: Navigation and Forms.- Back-End Interaction with Ajax.- Data Validation Techniques.- Modern JavaScript Case Study: A Dynamic Gallery.- Using Third-Party JavaScript.