Where is the power of Javascript?

[Jorge Bendahan]

I've been reading a lot about how js is so powerful. I use it only for client side validation, so what am I missing? What other uses can you give to js

[Christophe Porteneuve]

Hey Jorge,

Gawd, you could put JS to a TRUCKLOAD of uses. Anything that could happen in your web page, basically. The book's table of contents illustrates a lot of it : http://pragprog.com/titles/pg_js (grab the TOC's PDF). Here are a few general areas off the top of my head (not all covered in the book, because of quite a few constraints) :

Ajax / WebSockets / JSON-P communication, hence all kinds of mashups

Graphing, charting, maps… (static or animated, bitmap or vector, but rendered on the client side)

Analytics, tracking, etc.

Lightboxes

Advanced widgets (sliders, auto-completed text input, image carousels, slideshows, rating systems… you name it!)

Drag and drop (cart addition, item reordering, slider controls…)

Controlling a Flash or native widget (e.g. a video player)

Live chats (e.g. support or commercial staff chat between visitors and the site's company)

And much, so much more!

Best,