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I want to get better at web development. I can use jQuery fine, I can get relatively complex client side interactions working. I know the basics of catching an error in jQuery and setting status codes in my request coming back from the server.

However, I find I don't really know a lot about the client side development and the requests going back and forth between the server. I need to know more about professional JavaScript development. Especially the core prinicples of JavaScript and how to stucture JavaScript in an application which has a lot of JavaScript code.

Also, slightly different, when to use proper requests and how to make secure requests (say the app is encrypting everything going up). As well as learning about the internals of requests going back and forth, so I can develop a deep understanding of what is happening as the client talks to the server.

I don't really know where to start so I seek help here! Any good resources for me to understand this stuff? Book recommendations and so on. Especially the two sections JavaScript and Requests...

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If you're doing "secure" requests javascript is out because it's just too easy to intercept... – Trezoid Mar 31 '11 at 20:47
See didn't know that ^^ So anything with data you don't want to be intercepted can't be doing with Ajax? – user21784 Mar 31 '11 at 20:53
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@Trezoid: you need to elaborate on that comment. I don't believe that AJAX requests are inherently less secure than any other HTTP request. JavaScript doesn't tip the scales one way or the other. – Adam Crossland Mar 31 '11 at 20:57
@Adam: I can tell you straight up that javascript requests are ABSOLUTELY less secure. Javascript (with the exception of node.js) is a clientside language, which means that the whole thing is sitting in the users hands. A malicious user will have a much easier time throwing bad input through javascript then something like PHP... – Trezoid Mar 31 '11 at 21:10
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Javascript in no easier to tamper with than any other HTTP request. Security requires that all input coming from the client is treated as tainted. Using AJAX or not has nothing to do whatsoever with whether the application is secure or not. – Andrea Apr 1 '11 at 9:20
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4 Answers

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I can recommend Stoyan Stefanov's JavaScript Patterns and Doug Crockford's JavaScript: The Good Parts in that order for learning about serious professional JS development.

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Cheers. I had the latter, never got time to read it as it was quite heavy going and i had other concerns to learn. Looked good for learning professional js development. The pattens book looks like what i need to make it more stuctured as well! – user21784 Mar 31 '11 at 21:47
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Javascript The Good Parts is heavy going, but so worth it! its probably the best book on Javascript out there.

My book Programming HTML5 Applications could be of help. It will be out in August, It will be out in rough cuts before that.

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Cheers! Looks interesting. I'll try it out – user21784 Apr 1 '11 at 20:14
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In addition to Adam's answer, I'll recommend JavaScript: The Definitive Guide by David Flanagan.

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The best book that I have ever read in Javascript which helped me to understand various concepts in Javascript programming.

http://eloquentjavascript.net/contents.html

Better yet, the book is free online.

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