JavaScript Workshop » November 07 Meeting - Prototype Library Basics

JavaScript’s increasing popularity throughout the web makes it more important than ever to make sure our client side code is implemented with a nice mix of stability, speed, and reusability. One of the best ways for accomplishing this is to use a simple library and syntax to use as a foundation for every project.

Prototype was the first JavaScript library to get mainstream support among web developers. It is used as a foundation for other JavaScript libraries such as script.aculo.us, included in the installation of Ruby on Rails and web applications like WordPress. Provides helper functions for Forms, DOM, OOP, Ajax and extends existing JS objects. It is called a framework on the website because it is so robust that it practically recreates the JavaScript language to a certain extent.

To get an idea of the robustness of this library, take a look at this cheatsheet (.pdf) by Jonathan Snooks highlighting its interface methods and properties.