JavaScript in Plain Language (2015)

PART I: AT THE GATES OF ENLIGHTENMENT

1.2 Material and tools needed

All the exercises on this book will be tested using the JavaScript Console from the Google Chrome’s browser. Occasionally I also use Opera which works similarly. Please feel free to use any test console you so desire since every browser has one. Firefox is also a good alternative but I find the other two options cleaner and easier for beginners to code.

If you don’t have one of those browsers on your computer you can download it from the links given below. I recommend using both of them. Experimenting with different browsers is part of being web-savvy and a must for web developers:

Google Chrome | Opera

1- To access the console, load you Chrome browser or Opera, and then press the following key sequence:

For Windows systems: CTRL SHIFT j

For Mac: CMD OPT j

This will bring up the console.

2- If this is your first time using the console, you can detach the console from the browser by clicking on the small square shown at the bottom left of the console (in the latest browser this button seems to be on the top right). Detaching the Console will give you more room on the screen since you will be able to minimize the browser while keeping the console up.

3- Make sure the tab on the top of the console is set to console and not to any of the other available options.

4- You may see a few error messages on the Console when you first open it. This is normal. Just clear the screen by right-clicking and selecting “Clear console”.

Let’s now read a few more pages and code mentally. We will do some hands on work in a few minutes when we get to the Lab section.