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JavaScript Tutorial: Learn JavaScript with this
Step by Step JavaScript Course
JavaScript Tutorial Part III
By William
Bontrager
Variable Basics and Program Flow
Control
Here is what this part of the tutorial covers:
Types of variables
Numbers
Strings
Objects
Date
String
Program Flow Control
if()
else
while()
do...while()
for()
Name Spitter
~~ Types of variables
In Part I of this article series you were introduced to variables. Part II
used some more variables while explaining functions.
You may have come to the conclusion that JavaScript has several different
types of variables. Well, you're right.
The variable type is determined by what type of value it contains.
JavaScript has 3 main types of variables:
(1) Number -- A variable containing a number. It can
be whole or decimal.
Examples: 4
4.4
44
(2) String -- A variable containing a string of
characters. It may include numbers and any
other characters. Strings are assigned to a
variable or otherwise manipulated in a JavaScript
program by enclosing them between either
single (') or double (") quotes.
Examples: '4b'
"Hello, world!"
"12 + 24"
When it is enclosed between single or double
quotes it is a string variable, even if all
the characters are numerical.
Example: "4"
Because "4" is between quotes, it signals the
browser that it is a string rather than a
number.
(3) Object -- An object is a variable which can
contain more than one value. It can contain
number(s) and string(s), together, in the same
object. An object variable can also contain
functions and even other objects.
Here are some basics about each
of the variable types.
~~ ~~ Numbers
Number variables are used when number comparisons or mathematical calculations
are required.
Here are some basic calculations that can be done:
Note: The equal sign used in the context of assigning a value to a variable
is "determine the value or equation on the right and then let the variable
on the left equal that determination". The programming code assigning a value
to a variable is referred to as an assignment statement.
var n = 2; // variable n now holds the value 2
n = n * 3; // (* is multiply) variable n now holds the
// value 6
n = n / 4; // (/ is divide) variable n now holds the
// value 1.5
n = n - 7; // (- is subtract) variable n now holds the
// value -5.5
n = n + 13.5;// (+ is addition) variable n now holds the
// value 8
n++; // (++ is increment by 1) variable n now
// holds the value 9
n--; // (-- is decrement by 1) variable n now
// holds the value 8
n = n % 3; // (% is modulus -- the remainder of a
// division) variable n now holds the
// value 2
n = n * n; // variable n now holds the value 4
One could build a calculator using
the above mathematical operators. A graphical calculator with a scrolling
tape, operated entirely by clicking with no keyboard input being accepted,
and with memory keys used to assign and display the results of interim
calculations, may be a nice project for later in this series when a few more
of the basics of program decision and flow control have been introduced.
Program flow is often determined by the content of a variable. This
if(n == 10) { document.write('It is 10.'); }
will print "It is 10." on your page if the variable n equals 10.
Program flow can also be decided by comparing two or more variables and
determining whether they are equal or in what way they are unequal.
Here are some number variable comparisons that can be done. Each comparison
yields either "true" or "false":
(n == b) // true if both n and b contain the same number.
Otherwise, false.
(Note: "==" is a test for equality while "="
is an assignment statement symbol.)
(n < b) // true if n is less than b. Otherwise, false.
(n <= b) // true if n is less than or equal to b. Otherwise,
false.
(n > b) // true if n is more than b. Otherwise, false.
(n >= b) // true if n is more than or equal to b. Otherwise,
false.
(n != b) // true if n is not equal to b. Otherwise, false.
In the above examples, the variable
b could be an actual number. For example,
if(n < 10) { document.write('Is less than 10.'); }
will print "Is less than 10." on your page if the variable n is less than
10.
~~ ~~ Strings
String variables are used when a sequence of characters (any characters not
to be treated as numbers) are required for display or program control.
String variables have several symbols in common with number variables.
"=" means the same as it does in numbers, "assign the value on the right
to the variable on the left".
"==" means "is equal to" except the comparison is character by character
rather than the numerical value. Examples:
var s = 'hi'; // assigns "hi" to variable s
s == 'hi'; // is true
s == 'hi ya'; // is false (is not exactly the same)
s == 'HI'; // is false ("==" is case sensitive)
s == 'bye'; // is false
The program code:
var s = 'hi';
if(s == 'hi') { document.write('The same!'); }
will print "The same!" on your page if the variable s contains 'hi'.
Another symbol that string and number variables have in common is the "+"
symbol. For number variables, it means addition. However, for string variables
it means concatenation:
var a = "Hello,";
var b = "world!";
var s = a + b;
stores the string "Hello,world!" in the variable s.
If you know ahead of time what the variables a and b will contain, you can
accomplish the same thing with:
var s = "Hello," + "world!";
If you want a space in between, you could use either one of the following
two lines:
var s = a + " " + b;
var s = "Hello," + " " + "world!";
With the above value in s, the code:
s = s + ' -- real loud :)';
document.write("My program says: " + s);
will print "My program says: Hello, world! -- real loud :)" on your page.
~~ ~~ Objects
An object can contain many variables and entire functions, and even other
objects, within itself. In order to use the stuff in the object, the object
must be assigned to a variable.
(Although you can make your own objects, this article deals only with objects
that are built into the JavaScript language.)
To assign an object to a variable, the name of the object must have a pair
of parenthesis at the end (which can have values in them, like functions)
and you must use the word: new
~~ ~~ Date
Here is an example of assigning the Date object to a variable.
var d = new Date();
The variable d is now an object variable and has access to all the variables
and functions within the object. To accomplish an access, type the object
variable's name, then a period, then the name of the function or variable
inside the object.
The following example will access several functions and store the results.
Wherever you put the following code, it will print the current date and time
on your page:
<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- prints date and time on page
var d = new Date();
var hour = d.getHours();
var minute = d.getMinutes();
var second = d.getSeconds();
var time = 'time is ' + hour + ':' + minute + ':' + second;
var month = d.getMonth();
month = month + 1;
var day = d.getDate();
var year = d.getYear();
if(year < 2000) { year = year + 1900; }
var date = 'date is ' + month + '/' + day + '/' + year;
document.write('The ' + date + ' and the ' + time);
// -->
</script>
Notice the line: month = month +
1;
It is there because JavaScript's numerical representation of the calendar
months are the digits 0 through 11, rather than the human representation
of digits 1 through 12. The line adds 1 to the value returned by
d.getMonth()
Also, notice the line beginning with: if(year
It is there because some browsers will display the correct 4-digit year and
some browsers will display the year minus 1900. The line checks to see if
year is less than 2000 and, if so, adds 1900 to it.
Let's do an example with another object.
~~ ~~ String
Sometimes, knowing the length of string variables can be essential to your
program. To determine the length, you must create an object variable using
the built-in: String
var s = new String('William');
The variable s is now an object variable which contains the string "William"
along with several other values and functions. One of the values stored in
s is the length of the string it contains. Two of the functions it contains
are toUpperCase() and toLowerCase().
This code uses the mentioned value and functions (note that it will print
the <pre> and </pre> HTML tags):
<script language="JavaScript">
<!-- prints data about "William" using the object String
var s = new String('William');
var uc = s.toUpperCase();
var lc = s.toLowerCase();
var sdisp = '<pre>\nSome stuff about ' + s + '...\n' +
' Length: ' + s.length + '\n' +
'Upper Cased: ' + uc + '\n' +
'Lower Cased: ' + lc + '\n</pre>';
document.write(sdisp);
// -->
</script>
Note that a line break is represented
in string variables with the two-character sequence: \n
The above code will write the following on your page as preformatted text:
Some stuff about William...
Length: 7
Upper Cased: WILLIAM
Lower Cased: william
"Netscape JavaScript Reference" and "Netscape - Client-Side JavaScript Guide"
contain lists of built-in objects and functions. The references are linked
from
http://search.netscape.com/Computers/
Programming/Languages/JavaScript/References
~~ Program Flow Control
Much of what you do with JavaScript will require actions dependant on the
contents of variables.
~~ ~~ if()
This articles series has used the if() flow control statement several times.
It is of the format:
if() {
// code to execute
}
Between the parenthesis is the evaluation. Between the
curly braces is the code to execute if the evaluation
is true. Example:
if(n == 2) {
n++;
}
One-line code to execute following the if() statement does
not need to be in curly braces. And, whether or not it is
in curly braces, it can be all on one line. These two
examples work just as well as the above:
if(n == 2) { n++; }
if(n == 2) n++;
However, a multi-line code block must be within curly
braces:
if(n == 2) {
n++;
n = n * n;
}
All of the flow control statements
in this section follow the same rule: If the code to run is a single line,
it may be within curly braces but it is not necessary. However, if the code
is multi-line, the curly braces are required.
~~ ~~ else
The if() flow control statement can have an accompanying: else
if(n == 2) n++;
else n--;
A multi-line "else" code block would look something like:
if(n == 2) n++;
else {
n = n + 21;
n = n * n;
}
If you use an else statement, it must immediately follow an if() statement.
For example, this will not run correctly:
if(n == 2) n++;
document.write('something');
else n = n - 1;
The corrected code is:
if(n == 2) n++;
else n = n - 1;
document.write('something');
~~ ~~ while()
The while() flow control statement executes it's code so long as whatever
is between it's parenthesis evaluates as true:
var n = 1;
while(n <= 10) {
document.write('<br>' + n);
n++;
}
writes the current value of n on your page so long as the value of n is less
than or equal to 10. In other words, it will write a list of numbers 1 through
10 on your page.
However, this
var n = 22;
while(n <= 10) {
document.write('<br>' + n);
n++;
}
will write nothing on your page because the statement between the parenthesis
is never true.
~~ ~~ do ... while()
The do ... while() statement, however, will always execute it's code once
because it checks the value in the parenthesis after the code is executed.
Thus,
var n = 22;
do {
document.write('<br>' + n);
n++;
} while(n <= 10)
will print the number 22 on your page. And
var n = 1;
do {
document.write('<br>' + n);
n++;
} while(n <= 10)
will print the numbers 1 through
10.
~~ ~~ for()
The for() flow control statement is used to make a series of consistent changes
and test a value repeatedly. There are three items within the for()'s
parenthesis, separated with semi-colons.
The first item is the variable initialized to a specific value.
The second item is the check.
The third item changes the variable.
This prints the numbers 1 through 10:
for (var n = 1; n <= 10; n++) document.write('<br>' + n);
~~ Name Spitter
Here is a function that may amuse some people for a few moments. But then,
maybe not. It's a simple thing with the purpose of demonstrating some of
what has been covered in these first three parts of the JavaScript
Tutorial.
The Name spitter is two JavaScript functions and a form that accepts a first
name and a last name. When the button is clicked, the spitter does some
calculations then opens up a popup window with the name printed twice as
many times as the number of characters it contains, with ever increasing
space between the names.
There are two functions, which should go between the <head> and
</head> tags. The form should be below the <body> tag. Here is
the complete page:
<!-- BEGIN 61 lines of code -->
<html>
<head>
<script language="JavaScript">
<!--
function PopUp(ss) {
var p = 'height=300,width=500,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes';
pu = window.open('','',p);
pu.document.writeln('<html><body>');
pu.document.writeln(ss);
pu.document.writeln('</body></html>');
} // end of PopUp()
function spitter() {
// The document.SpitForm._____.value variables contain
// the contents of the fields named ______ in the
// form named SpitForm.
var name = document.SpitForm.first.value + ' ' +
document.SpitForm.last.value;
var n = String(name);
var i = n.length - 1;
var s = n.toUpperCase();
s = s + ' has an ';
if(i % 2) s = s + 'odd';
else s = s + 'even';
s = s + ' number of characters (' + i;
s = s + ') not counting the space between names.<br><br>';
i = n.length * 2;
var bar = '';
var br = '';
for(var ii = 0; ii < i; ii++) {
bar = ' ' + bar;
br = '<br>' + br;
s = s + br + bar + name;
} // end of for()
s = s + '<hr>See, <b>very</b> short term amusement :-)<hr>';
PopUp(s);
} // end of spitter()
// -->
</script>
</head>
<body>
<form name="SpitForm">
<table><tr>
<td align=right>First Name:</td>
<td><input type="text" name="first" size=28></td>
</tr><tr>
<td align=right>Last Name:</td>
<td><input type="text" name="last" size=28></td>
</tr><tr>
<td colspan=2 align=right>
<input type="submit" value="Show Me" onClick="spitter()">
</td>
</tr></table>
</form>
</body>
</html>
<!-- END 61 lines of code -->
Now, go forth and populate the internet
with elegant and benign JavaScript code :)
Happy Happy!
William Bontrager, Programmer and Publisher "Screaming Hot CGI" programs
"WillMaster Possibilities" ezine
http://willmaster.com
mailto:possibilities@willmaster.com
Copyright 2000 by William and Mari Bontrager
JavaScript
Tutorial Part IV
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