Scripting and Applications - Web Standards: Mastering HTML5, CSS3, and XML - page 211

<param name="image1" value="01.jpg" />
<param name="link1" value="NO" />
<param name="flip1" value="0" />
<param name="image2" value="02.jpg" />
<param name="link2" value="NO" />
<param name="flip2" value="0" />
<param name="speed" value="4" />
</object>
</object>

Objects must be rendered only once per page. As you will see, a similar approach exists for Flash objects too
(Chapter 9).

ECMAScript, JavaScript, and jQuery
A widely used scripting language is ECMAScript, which is standardized by Ecma International (ECMA-262 [17],
ECMA-290 [18], ECMA-327 [19], ECMA-357 [20]) and the International Organization for Standardization (ISO/IEC
16262 [21]). The Internet media type of ECMAScript is application/ecmascript , and the file extension is .es .
The three best-known dialects of ECMAScript are JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript. The first one, JavaScript,
is the primary client-side scripting language on the Web. It is used by millions of web sites to add interaction and
functionality.
jQuery is a comprehensive, cross-platform JavaScript library for simplifying client-side scripting and interactions.
jQuery provides the code blocks for rapid prototyping and developing a unique user interface with minimum coding
and effort. Instead of writing JavaScript code from scratch for an advanced image gallery such as nanoGALLERY [22],
an image slider such as Unslider [23], manipulated content such as Avgrund Modal [24], or animations such as
jQuery UI Effects Core [25], you can reuse the free, open source code licensed under the MIT License. jQuery can be
downloaded from the jQuery web site as an uncompressed or a compressed file [26]. For production environments,
the compressed .js file is recommended. This file can be loaded in the document head with the script element
as any other JavaScript file (Chapter 3). Beyond the core functions of jQuery, the web design community offers
thousands of plug-ins developed and maintained independently.

■ JavaScript should not be confused with Java. although both languages have a C-like syntax, JavaScript is
a scripting language, while Java is general programming language. JavaScript has dynamic typing, while Java has static
typing. JavaScript is a weakly typed language, while Java is strongly typed. JavaScript is loaded from human-readable
source code, while Java is retrieved from a compiled bytecode. in contrast to JavaScript objects, which are prototype-
based, Java objects are class-based.

Caution

JScript is the Microsoft implementation of ECMAScript [27]. The major implementations of JScript are Windows
Script, and JScript .NET. The typical file extensions of JScript are .js , .jse , .wsf , .wsc , and, if embedded, .htm , .html ,
and .asp .
ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia, which is now owned by Adobe
Systems. It is implemented in Adobe Flash and, as mentioned earlier, Adobe Flex. The typical file extension of external
ActionScript files is .as . ActionScript reuses the MIME type of ECMAScript.