Mastering Dojo

JavaScript and Ajax Tools for Great Web Experiences

The last couple of years have seen big changes in server-side web programming. Now it’s the client’s turn; Dojo is the toolkit to make it happen and Mastering Dojo shows you how.

Dojo is a set of client-side JavaScript tools that help you build better web applications. Dojo blurs the line between local, native applications and browser-based applications; the browser becomes the user interface platform. "Modern" browsers provide an incomplete, inconvenient, and incompatible programming environment, but Dojo eliminates these problems. While there are many JavaScript libraries available, most focus on just one thing (for example, effects libraries, perceived JavaScript omissions, or HTML widgets). Dojo addresses all of these functional areas—and many others—extensively.

In Mastering Dojo, you’ll get the whole story, from basic usage to advanced idioms. Mastering Dojo starts out with a fast moving tutorial that will give you techniques that you can start using right away. You’ll learn all about Dojo Core—the foundation on which all things Dojo stand. See how you can modularize your project for development and automatically package your release for optimal download performance.

You’ll also learn how Dojo:

• augments the core JavaScript library
  
• fixes the event system
  
• simplifies DOM programming
  
• provides a complete class definition facility
  
• includes a powerful remote scripting (XHR) framework
  
• ... and much more.

You’ll love using Dojo’s HTML user interface control widget system, Dijit. See how to use over 40 widgets, including the rich yet easy-to-use tree and grid controls.

Finally, you’ll get an in-depth look at how to design and build a single-page, rich Internet Application (RIA).

About the Authors
Craig Riecke is a Dojo committer and a writer and editor for the Book of Dojo, Dojo’s online documentation. He is currently Manager of Application Development for CXtec in Syracuse, NY. While programming he listens to old, scratchy blues music on his iPod. His motto is "I’d rather drink muddy water and sleep in a hollow log than write a redundant line of code."

Rawld Gill has served as chief architect of five major lines of commercial, enterprise-class software targeted at the pharmaceutical industry over the last 25 years. He co-invented the concept of distributed data collection for clinical trials. A former U.S. Air Force officer and instructor fighter pilot, he has logged more than 2000 hours in supersonic jet fighter aircraft.

Alex Russell is the project lead for The Dojo Toolkit and president of the Dojo Foundation.