AW: [Opera-users] Java Script

[Dave Anderson]

On Tue, 26 Jun 2001 21:54:01 +0300, Silviu Cojocaru <silviucj at yahoo.com> wrote:

>Tuesday, June 26, 2001, 8:42:51 PM, Dave Anderson wrote:
>
>> Please think carefully about what you're asking for. There's a
>> constant flow of non-standard crap from M$, it's all poorly
>> (if at all) documented, and some of it is totally incompatible
>> with standards-conformant behavior. The amount of time needed
>> to keep track of, reverse-engineer and implement any
>> substantial fraction of this stuff would kill a small company
>> like Opera (which is no doubt one of the reasons that M$ does
>> it).
>
>Ok, in light of this, can someone guide to "standards
>compliant" java script refference ?
>
>All I have is a document from 1997 issued by what was then
>Netscape Inc. (or something like that)
>
>Btw, this is an excerpt from from Opera's Help:
>
>> ECMA-262
>>
>> ECMA-262, also known as "ECMAScript", is the open Web standard
>> scripting language, and is build around the core of AOL's
>> Netscape Communications Corporation's JavaScript 1.3. Opera 5
>> makes good use of the scripting module, and even lets the user
>> easily disable this technology at will in the "Preferences".
>
>This makes me belive that what I have is the right docs
>after all, and I have checked the script (which was posted here)
>and everything used in it can be found in that documentation I
>posted here earlier.

As I understand it, ECMAScript and JavaScript 1.3 are not completely 
compatible--but I've never thoroughly researched this.  I hope that someone
else here has and can give you good advice.

>Now, this being said, I still can't figure why o' why IE makes
>that script work (since it's standards compliant) and Opera does
>not. I still need feedback on Netscape latest incarnation.

>I'm not trying to be a PITA but I think you get also frustrated
>when some things on the web pages you visit don't work like they
>are supposed too...

It's frustrating for all of us, but please be sure to put the blame where 
it belongs--primarily on the browser vendors who promote the use of
non-standard crap to try to lock people in to their particular browser.

>One last note, scripters, usually avoid using non standard stuff
>in their script and if they do they warn about that.

If this were only true life on the web would be *much* simpler.  Far too 
many website authors apparently throw together a mess of stuff culled from 
God-knows-where, tinker with it until it "works" using their favorite 
browser (with their choice of configuration options, on their particular 
hardware and operating system, etc.), and then declare it "perfect".

        Dave

-- 
Dave Anderson
<dave at daveanderson.com>