Javascript and Jean Grae

This weekend I'm mostly studying Javascript (and listening to Jean Grae's new album, Jeanius - but that's none of your business). It hasn't taken me long to realise that I won't survive long in the world of Oracle Apex (or any web technology) without it.

Coming from an Oracle Forms background it's a miracle I even know what javascript is - it's a bloody miracle that I even know what HLTM is (that was a joke, by the way - laugh with me, not at me)!

Fortunately for me I've got HeadFirst's excellent book to help me along. It makes studying a breeze, and with every chapter I see loads of ways I can - to use marketing wank speech - bring my app to life with what I'm learning. I almost can't wait to get back to the office.

Having said all that it's not that my app is completely bereft of JavaScript. One of the first things I did was install Patrick Wolf's Apexlib Framework, which is kinda excellent. No, not kinda excellent - just plain excellent. Only problem with it (apart from the fact that, if I remember correctly, it was a bit of a bitch to install) is that it works so effortlessly that I don't remember what is ApexLib and what is just simple, native functionality. So maybe I'm giving it too much - or too little - credit.

It's blokes like this Patrick Wolf and many, many other experts (I've got a bookmark list as long as your ... well, as long as you claim your ... is) that make working with Apex a joy. Whenever I encounter a problem - and that's not happening as frequently as it used to - there's always a blog somewhere on the webbienet with the answer. Sometimes it makes me forget that 8 months after I ordered the one official Oracle Apex book it still hasn't arrived. I recently got another email from Amazon saying its release has been pushed back - again!

Anyway, back to Javascript. And Jean Grae.