Has this skipped a human editor? Or, perhaps this formatting was intentional....

I'm ready to learn JavaScript again.

The last time I seriously developed anything using it was 1997, creating drag-and-drop games. It was a time when very little was standardized across browsers or HTML implementations. Anyone reading this who attempted to develop drag-and-drop in the web browser 11 years ago can empathize with the intense effort to debug and make the functions cross browser compatible.

Some years later, as web browser software progressed, the games no longer functioned; optimizing to use Netscape 4 is not advantageous when Netscape 4 becomes obsolete. As JavaScript progressed, I turned a blind eye and concentrated on server side technologies that were more stable and controllable.

Today, in 2008, nothing would work if you turned off your JavaScript. Users are not put off by a web site that requires JavaScript to function. Many developers don't care if JavaScript is turned off either because, well, they keep JavaScript enabled while they build. There will undoubtedly be a growing wave of software vulnerabilities and inconsistencies because web based software was dependent on its JavaScript client-side environment. That's a whole 'nother topic.

Why should I learn JavaScript now? Browser compatibility and tools now available to developers is impressive. In comparison to the old days, JavaScript not breaking and actually working is enough to impress me. AJAX is the "killer app" for JavaScript, and is the basis for the web browser becoming the new de facto software platform. But I also like the visual effects that can be achieved without using Flash and ActiveX. Provided JavaScript does not disrupt the stability, security and accessibility of a web page, it is worth the effort to enhance the experience of using web applications.