Pro JavaScript with MooTools

✍ Scribed by Mark Obcena

• Publisher: Apress
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 430
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Pro JavaScript with MooTools is unlike any other JavaScript book on the market today. While similar books focus on either JavaScript as a language of the browser or how to use JavaScript frameworks, Pro JavaScript with MooTools fills the gap between these topics and moves beyond—exploring the advanced features of JavaScript and how the MooTools framework uses these features to further improve the language itself. The book itself takes a unique three-pronged approach. It first walks you through the advanced features of JavaScript and the MooTools framework, including native augmentation and type creation, a comprehensive discussion of JavaScript functions, object-oriented programming with native JavaScript and MooTools Classes, and the MooTools Class internals. You’ll then learn all about Javascript in the DOM: the Elements classes and its internals, the MooTools Event system, Selector engines and MooTools Slick, Ajax and the Request Object, and animation and the Fx classes. The final section really sets the book apart from all others, as it discusses JavaScript outside the browsers. You’ll take an in-depth look at CommonJS and MooTools, using MooTools outside the browser to build ORM, creating simple CommonJS applications via the MooTools Deck framework, and creating complex server-side applications using Raccoon. What you’ll learn How MooTools augments natives and creates new types via the Type constructor and how it uses the advanced features of JavaScript functions to extend the language. All about object-oriented programming in native JavaScript and MooTools Class counterpart—the internals of the Class Type and other special object-oriented features that the framework adds to the language. How MooTools improves the DOM API via Element and the Events Types; and how Slick, the MooTools selector engine, uses advanced JavaScript features to create a fast and easy way to control the DOM. How MooTools wraps the native XMLHttpRequest to create a truly cross-browser implementation and how the MooTools Fx classes create smooth, powerful animations for the browser. About the CommonJS initiative and MooTools support for it and how MooTools can be used without the DOM to create an ORM that talks to a database outside the browser. About Deck and Raccoon: two simple, yet powerful, frameworks built atop MooTools that enable you to create server-side JavaScript applications. Who this book is for The book is for beginner to advanced MooTools users who want to learn about the internals and deeper areas of the framework, and beginner to advanced users who want to learn about MooTools 2.0. JavaScript programmers will also benefit from learning about the more advanced features of the language and how MooTools uses them. Table of Contents JavaScript and MooTools Functions Objects Classes Classes: The Extras Types JavaScript in a Window Elements Selector Engines Events Request Animation JavaScript without Limits MooTools on Deck Resources

✦ Table of Contents

Prelim......Page 1
Contents at a Glance......Page 6
Contents......Page 7
Foreword......Page 16
About the Author......Page 17
About the Technical Reviewer......Page 18
Acknowledgments......Page 19
Preface......Page 20
Exploring JavaScript and MooTools......Page 23
JavaScript......Page 25
MooTools......Page 26
Your Toolkit......Page 27
The Wrap Up......Page 32
The Function......Page 33
One Function, Multiple Forms......Page 34
Single-Execution Function......Page 39
Arguments......Page 42
Return Values......Page 46
Function Internals......Page 47
Advanced Function Techniques......Page 58
MooTools and Functions......Page 64
The Wrap Up......Page 68
JavaScript is Prototypal(-ish)......Page 69
A Language of Objects......Page 70
The Building Blocks of Objects......Page 72
Inheritance......Page 78
The Prototype Chain......Page 83
Simplified Prototypal Programming......Page 87
The Wrap Up......Page 90
From Prototypes to Classes......Page 93
The MooTools Class System......Page 95
Constructors and Initializers......Page 97
Rethinking Members......Page 99
Inheritance......Page 105
Mixins......Page 113
The Wrap Up......Page 118
Mutators......Page 121
The Built-in Mixins......Page 128
Static Members......Page 136
Encapsulation and Visibility......Page 140
MooTools and Classes......Page 147
The Wrap-Up......Page 148
Values and Type Systems......Page 149
An Alternative Type System......Page 151
Native Types and Values......Page 153
Type Casting......Page 165
The MooTools Type System......Page 169
Working with Type Objects......Page 174
Creating New Types......Page 182
The Wrap-Up......Page 190
Conquering the Client Side......Page 193
A Language for Every Computer......Page 195
Life Cycle of a Page......Page 196
Pause, Script......Page 197
The Scripted Browser......Page 198
Frameworks, Libraries, and Toolkits......Page 204
MooTools and the Browser......Page 205
The Wrap-Up......Page 208
Families and Trees......Page 209
Is My DOM Ready Yet?......Page 213
DOM Scripting with MooTools......Page 220
The Element Type......Page 257
The Universal Modificators......Page 261
Element Storage......Page 263
The Wrap Up......Page 264
What Node?......Page 267
Selecting in Style......Page 270
Slick: the MooTools Selector Engine......Page 274
Inside Slick......Page 278
The Wrap-Up......Page 281
A Loopy World......Page 283
The Event Loop......Page 285
Event-Based Programming......Page 286
The Event Models......Page 287
The MooTools Event System......Page 310
Event System Internals......Page 318
The Wrap-Up......Page 328
Requests and Responses......Page 329
The XMLHttpRequest Object......Page 331
Going Async......Page 336
The MooTools Request Class......Page 341
Subclassing Request......Page 357
The Wrap-Up......Page 359
Getting Animated......Page 361
Being Stylish......Page 362
Time for Some Action......Page 365
A Basic JavaScript Animation......Page 368
MooTools Fx Classes......Page 371
Fx Internals......Page 376
The Wrap-Up......Page 379
Breaking from the Browser......Page 381
Breaking out of the Browser......Page 383
CommonJS......Page 384
Common Modules......Page 385
MooTools and CommonJS......Page 389
Meso: MooTools in the Middle......Page 390
The Wrap-Up......Page 391
Revisiting Request and Response......Page 393
JSGI......Page 395
Enter Deck......Page 401
Deck Internals......Page 406
The Wrap-Up......Page 407
The Wrap-Up to Conquer All Wrap-Ups......Page 408
MooTools......Page 409
Index......Page 411