Date Published:
Last Modified:

Child Pages

  • Namespaces
  • Variable Scope
  • Overview

    JavaScript was originally developed to determine what browser a web page was loading on. It is commonly referred to as the language which was “designed in a weekend” or “designed in 2 weeks” (both which are partial truths).

    The most common use for JavaScript today is to enrich basic HTML webpages, as well as run back-end server tasks with a platform such as node.js. It can also be used to develop desktop applications with a platform such as nw.js or electron.

    Adding JavaScript Code In An HTML Page

    There are two basic ways to add Javascript code into a web page. You can either:

    Include a JavaScript file (.js)

    <script type="text/javascript" src="myJavascriptFile.js"></script>

    Or include the JavaScript code directly into the web page:

    <script type="text/javascript">
        // Javascript goes here

    If adding a standalone javascript file, you can use the keyword defer to tell the browser to wait until the rest of the page has loaded before loading the Javascript file.

    <!-- When using HTML -->
    <script type="text/javascript" src="myJavascriptFile.js" defer></script>
    <!-- Or when using XHTML -->
    <script type="text/javascript" src="myJavascriptFile.js" defer="defer"></script>


    Constants can’t really be defined in JavaScript, at least not in the way you can in C and C++. One of the easiest workarounds is to just you all-uppercase variable names, like you would in C, so people will know that it shouldn’t be changed.

    var THIS_IS_A_CONSTANT = "I am a constant";
    var ANOTHER_CONST = 2;

    Chrome let’s you declare constants, but they are not that useful as they are not multi-browser compatible.

    // A chrome constant
    const A_CHROME_CONST = "blah";


    You can return values from a function by using the return keyword.

    function FuncWhichReturnsSingleVal()
        return 23;

    You can return multiple values easily by creating an object on the fly (this is called an object literal).

    function FuncWhichReturnsObject()
        return {
            val1: 23, 
            val2: false
    // You then access the variables with...
    var myObj = FuncWhichReturnsObject();
    var myVal = myObj.val1;
    var trueFalse = myObj.var2;

    Message Boxes

    A simple message box can be created easily in JavaScript by using the alert() function.

    // Show a simple message box
    alert("This is a simple message box using alert().");

    The Console

    Many browsers support writing to the console with the command console.log(), in a similar manner that you would use printf for C/C++ in a Linux environment. The added ability of console.log() is that it can be passed most objects, and these will be printed with their own ToString() method.

    console.log('Printing a simple message to the console.");
    // Printing a float
    var float = 4.5;
    // Most objects can be printed
    var randomObject;


    Strings can be defined with either the " or ' character. Both are allowed, to distinguish between HTML strings and JavaScript strings when JavaScript is wrapped in HTML. In this case, you need to use the ' character for JavaScript strings, and the " character for HTML strings.

    String To Number Conversion

    You can use the native javascript function parseFloat().

    // Create a string which represents a double
    var msg = "4.5";
    // Convert string to an actual double
    var convFloat = parseFloat(msg);

    Note that there is no native parseDouble() function.

    However, be careful! Javascript has some very weird implicit conversion rules, as highlighted below:

    > '5' - 3
    2 // weak typing + implicit conversions = headaches
    > '5' + 3
    '53' // Because we all love consistency
    > '5' - '4'
    1 // string - string = integer. What?
    > '5' + + '5'
    > 'foo' + + 'foo'
    'fooNaN' // Marvelous
    >'5' + - '2'
    > '5' + - + - - + - - + + - + - + - + - - - '-2'
    '52' // Apparently it's ok
    > var x = 3;
    > '5' + x - x
    > '5' - x + x
    5 // Because fuck math

    Credit for the above goes to

    The Maths Object

    Like many languages, JavaScript has a Maths object which you can use to do basic mathematical operations with.

    Math.LN10// = ln(10) = 2.303 (approx)

    Like this page? Upvote with shurikens!


      comments powered by Disqus