A conduit to the voices in my head
I have a confession to make: I don't know javascript (ECMA script, jscript, whatever you want to call it). Scratch that actually, I know javascript - the language (I mean, come on...it's almost identical in syntax to C/C++/Java/C#), I just don't really know the DOM too well. I can do basic stuff, but I've really realized my limitations with it recently. If I can't do it, more than likely someone else has done it and published it on the web; it's just a matter of finding it; I rarely write my own scripts. I'm not a big fan of scripting. I'm a .Net guy...I like doing everything I can via server side code. Back in the day, I was a VB6 guy, with a dash of ASP thrown in for good (bad) measure. I usually tried to avoid ASP because once again, I am not a big fan of scripting. Why am I not a big fan of scripting? Because of the whole spaghetti code paradigm. I _don't_ like mixing presentation code with code that defines what data in the presentation layer should do. When ASP.NET came out, it was the answer to my woes as there was a clean separation of the two, not to mention most of the arcane javascript code that used to be written by hand (validation mainly) is emitted automatically via ASP.NET server controls. Did that eliminate the need for embedded scripting statements? Unfortunately, no. So I have finally broken down after all these years and am going to learn everything I can about DHTML (DOM/CSS/XHTML/javascript/etc). I will still do everything I can via server side code, but most web developers have not coded up their sites without some javascript, and I'm left supporting technologies that I am not as familiar with as I should be. So my question is this: even in these server side code days, how much javascript are you still writing by hand? What are the main scenarios that require this? In my days of writing sites, I have rarely encountered a situation where javascript was the only way to accomplish something (besides basic DHTML type stuff)...there is usually a way to do it on the server (at the cost of a roundtrip or two, but IMO this is made up for by clean separation and maintenance ease). Anywho, just my two cents on scripting. Pointers are welcome. Happy scripting.
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About Jayson Knight
Jayson Knight was clueless to the computer programming world until he took a C++ class in college. The rest is proverbial history. He has been building applications targeting the .Net framework for 7 years, focusing mainly on internet technologies and database driven web application development.
Most recently he left the world of Corporate IT to finish up his degree in Chemistry, with an eye on Medical School and an Anesthesiology residency program. Read this post for more information.
He is also a Community Server MVP: Community Server is the software that runs this site, plus many others on the web. For more information, check out http://csmvps.com.
When he finds time to pry himself away from his computer and university studies, he can be found on the mountain bike trails when it's warm, and on the ski slopes when it's cold.