JavaScript 1.3 Overview, Part II - Doc JavaScript

JavaScript 1.3 Overview, Part II

In our previous column, JavaScript 1.3 Overview, Part I, we focused on JavaScript 1.3's changes that are geared towards globalization and multilingual support. In part II, we deal with the rest of JavaScript 1.3's goodies.

In JavaScript 1.3, the Function object has been extended with two new methods, call() and apply(). These new Function methods enable a multi-method construction of objects, which can be very powerful in certain applications. One of the important changes in JavaScript 1.3 is its rethinking of the equality operators. JavaScript 1.3 introduces the "strict equality" concept by providing two new operators that test for strict equality. It also modifies the behavior of older equality operators to become much more explicit and intuitive. Regular expressions, which we covered extensively in our previous column, (Regular Expressions), get a boost in JavaScript 1.3 with the addition of the lambda expression in the replace() method. Now you can package the substitution in a function argument of the replace() method. We cover changes in the behavior of the Array and the Boolean objects, as well as the toString() method. Due to these changes, your scripts may behave differently now. You should be aware of these changes and be ready to fix your code to match this new behavior. In this column we also explain how to specify the JavaScript version at the top of your script. Navigator 4.06 and up modified the behavior of the JavaScript console. We show how to set the console preferences to fit your needs.

In this column you'll learn:

• How to use the new Function object's call() method.
• How to use the new Function object's apply() method.
• How to use the new strict equality operators.
• How to use the modified equality operators.
• How to use the new lambda expression in the replace method.
• How to use the modified Array object.
• How to use the modified Boolean object.
• How to use the modified toString() method.
• How to use the right JavaScript version in the SCRIPT tag.
• How to use the modified JavaScript console.