basic question about javascript

[bhome83]

im taking an online college class next quarter and it says i need a browser that reads javascript. what is javascript and how do i know i have it, or it can be read? i have zonealarm pro firewall and i was wondering if i would need to turn it off to be able to do my online class. thanks.

[Force Flow]

IE and opera read it. I would use IE to be on the safe side since you need it for a class.

No, you don't need to turn off your firewalls. Javascript is a language used in webpages. Like HTML, but it does different things.

On these boards, when you bold, underline, italicise, color or change the font size when posting, you are working with javascript.

[mairving]

Originally posted by force_flow2002 On these boards, when you bold, underline, italicise, color or change the font size when posting, you are working with javascript.

Actually it is php that bolds, italicizes the text.

Javascript is a client-side server language, which means that the script is read and parsed on your machine. A server-side language like php, parses the script on the webserver that it resides. Javascript will be on your computer unless you turn it off. IE, Opera and Netscape, the 3 most popular browsers all are javascript enabled.

[Force Flow]

Originally posted by mairving Actually it is php that bolds, italicizes the text.

Really? Hmm....

[mairving]

Originally posted by force_flow2002 Really? Hmm....

Yep, they use the eregi which just replaces the [ with < if certain conditions are met. VB also makes use of the nl2br function that will add a <BR> tag every time it encounters a carriage return.