Javascript Reference and Specifications

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If you are just starting to study, they are unlikely to be needed right now. However, this chapter is at the beginning, since it’s impossible to predict the exact moment when you want to look in the reference book, but you know for sure that this moment will come.

Therefore, it is recommended to take a brief look at them and take note of them, in order to return to them in the future, if necessary.

Javascript Directories – How to search them

The most complete and detailed information on JavaScript and browsers is in reference books.

Its volume is such that it is impossible to translate everything from English. It is not even possible to make a “one complete reference book”, since there are many changes and they occur all the time.

Nevertheless, it is quite possible to live if you know where to look.

There are three basic javascript references in English :

  1. Mozilla Developer Network – contains information that is correct for the main browsers. Also, there are only extensions for Firefox (they are marked).When I need to quickly find “standard” information RegExp, I enter “RegExp MDN” into Google , and the keyword “MDN” (Mozilla Developer Network) leads to information from this directory.
  2. MSDN – reference book from Microsoft. There is a lot of information there, including JavaScript (they call it “JScript”). If you need something specific to IE, it’s better to go straight there.For example, for information about features RegExpin IE, a useful combination: “RegExp msdn” . Sometimes it is better to add the term “JScript” to the search phrase: “RegExp msdn jscript” .
  3. The Safari Developer Library is less well known and less common, but you can also find valuable information in it.

There are also reference books, not from browser developers, but also good ones:

  1. https://help.dottoro.com – contains detailed information on HTML / CSS / JavaScript.
  2. https://www.quirksmode.org – information about browser incompatibilities. This resource itself is quite old and, first of all, useful for supporting outdated browsers. To search, you can use the combination of “quirksmode onkeypress” in Google.
  3. https://caniuse.com is a browser support resource for the latest HTML / CSS / JavaScript features. For example, to support cryptographic functions: https://caniuse.com/#feat=cryptography .
  4. https://kangax.github.io/compat-table – a table with an overview of ECMAScript specification support for various platforms.

Javascript Specifications

The specification is the most important, defining document in which it is written how JavaScript behaves, browser, CSS, etc.

If something is not clear, and the directory does not give an answer, then the specification, as a rule, reveals the topic much deeper and allows you to dot the i.

ECMAScript Specification

The specification (a formal description of the syntax, basic objects and algorithms) of the Javascript language is called ECMAScript.Why not just “javascript”?

You may ask: “Why is the JavaScript specification not just called “ JavaScript ” , why is there a separate name?”

That’s because JavaScript ™ is a registered trademark owned by Oracle Corporation.

The name “ECMAScript” was chosen to keep the specification independent of the brand owners.

The specification can tell a lot about how a language works, and it is the most fundamental, trusted source of information.

HTML / DOM / CSS Specifications

JavaScript is a general purpose language, so there is not a word about browsers in the ECMAScript specification.

The main organization that deals with HTML, CSS, XML and a host of other standards is the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Information about them can be found on the website w3.org . Unfortunately, finding what you need in this pile may not be easy, especially when it is not known which standard to look for. The best way is to ask Google for the site.

For example, to search, document.cookietype document.cookie site: w3.org .

The latest versions of the standards are located on the domain dev.w3.org .

In addition, with regard to HTML5 and DOM / CSS, the W3C makes extensive use of the work of another organization – WhatWG . Therefore, the most current versions of specifications for these topics are usually found at https://whatwg.org/specs/ .

Sometimes it happens that the information on the site https://dev.w3.org differs from https://whatwg.org . In this case, as a rule, you should follow https://whatwg.org .

Conclusion

So, let’s see what we have sources of information.

Directories:

  • Mozilla Developer Network – information for Firefox and most browsers. Google combo: "RegExp MDN"keyword “MDN”.
  • MSDN – information on IE. Google-combo: "RegExp msdn". Sometimes it is better to add the term «JScript»: "RegExp msdn jscript".
  • Safari Developer Library – information on Safari.
  • https://help.dottoro.com – detailed information on HTML / CSS / JavaScript with consideration of browser compatibility. Google-combo: "RegExp dottoro".

Specifications contain critical information about how it “should work”:

The way it actually works and incompatibilities:

Browser support for the latest and latest features:

Related Javascript Tutorials

Introduction to JavaScript

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