Intro-To-Javascript

Basics:

Data types:

Primatives: String, nums, booleans, null, undefined
Objects

Ruby	JavaScript	Explanation
"4" == 4 // false	"4" == 4 // true	== is a type coersive, and a loose equality checker
	"4" === 4 // false	4 === 4 // true
falsys: nil, false	falsys: null, undefined, 0, NaN, ""	null == undefined, but undefined != false
"My name is #{name}."	"My name is " + name + "."	JS does not have string interpolation
p "this is ruby"	console.log("this is javascript")
[1,2].push(4) // [1,2,4]	[1,2].push(4) // 3	returns the length of the newly created array
a = 0	var a = 0
a += 1 // returns 1, a == 1	a++ // returns 0, a === 1	(variable)++ adds one but returns the variable before
	++a // returns 2, a === 2	++(variable) adds one to the variable then returns it

Variables

Declaring a Variable:

 $ var firstName = "Jane"

 $ var lastName = "Austen"

 $ var name = firstName + " " + lastName

 $ var names; // creates a variable to be defined. If called you get undefined

 $ var names = [];

Functions

Declaring a Function:

 $ var combineName = function(firstName, lastName){
     return(firstName.concat(" ", lastName))
   }

 $ function sayHello(){
     return "Hello, World."
   }

 $ var x = (function(){
    var p = "password"
    return function(password){
      return p === password
    }
  })()    // IIFE -- immediately invoked function
  // cannot access var p from the console. It's more protected!

 //ES6 function notation, called Arrow Functions
 $ var x = (num) => { return num * num }

Calling a Function:

 $ sayHello // function (){ return "Hello, World." }

 $ sayHello() // "Hello, World."

 $ x() // false

 $ x("password") // true

Objects:

Declaring Objects

// object literals
var ironMan = {
  firstName: "Tony",
  lastName: "Stark",
  company: "Stark Industries",
  greeting: function(name){
    return "Hello " + name
  }
}

ironMan.car = { make: "Tesla", year: 2015}

Calling Objects:

ironMan.firstName // "Tony"

ironMan["company"] // "Stark Industries"

ironMan.greeting // function (name){
    return "Hello " + name
  }

ironMan.greeting("Stephanie") // "Hello Stephanie"

ironMan.car // Object {make: "Tesla", year: 2015}
ironMan.car.make // "Tesla"

Classes... sort of

// contrcructor functions

var Person = function(firstName, lastName, gender){
  this.firstName = firstName
  this.lastName = lastName
  this.gender = gender
}

var jane = new Person("Jane", "Austen", "F")

jane.profession = "Author"

var tony = new Person("Tony", "Stark", "M")
tony.profession // undefined
jane.profession // "Author"

Person.prototype.greeting = function(){
  return "Hello, my name is " + this.firstName
}

jane.greeting() // "Hello, my name is Jane"

What is this?

this is the object you are acting upon.

var obj = {
  funct: function(){return this},
  variable: "x"
}

obj.funct() // Object {variable: "x"}

var Person = function(name){
  this.name = name;
  this.defineThis = this
}

var tony = new Person("Tony")
tony.defineThis // Person {name: "Tony", defineThis: Person}

var OtherTypeOfPerson = function(name){
  this.name = name;
  this.defineThis = function(){return this}
}

var jane = new OtherTypeOfPerson("Jane")
jane.defineThis() // Person {name: "Jane"}

This Tips:

use debugger in you code then console.log(this)

this ~ self

declare this to a variable so it can be used later when this changes.

Other things:

manipulating the DOM:

"$" -- signifies jquery

$('h3').append('<img src="http://i.imgur.com/nZlaeSH.jpg">')

// OR

var h3 = document.getElementsByTagName("h3")
for (var i = 0; i < h3.length; i++){
  h3[i].outerHTML = '<img src="http://i.imgur.com/nZlaeSH.jpg">'
}

// jquery makes it easier.

AJAX - your first introductions

Think of an ajax reqest like an amazon order.

If your computer receives something in a format it is not expecting, it gets mad (ex: expecting HTML and gets back JSON). What am I supposed to do with spatulas? I ordered a whisk

If you send something to the database, like in a post request, and it's not in the format your backend is expecting, you'll get an error or failure. (ex: sending a single variable, but the backend expects full form of data). How am I supposed to understand this clingon character set? I speak English.

Get Request:

All you are doing is GETTING something from a site or file

Things you need:

url
datatype you are expecting back (optional)

Post Request:

You are changing things in the database.