Language Basics

This chapter provides information on reviewing syntax, working with data types, working with flow‐control statements and understanding functions. At the core of any language is a description of how it should work at the most basic level. This description typically defines syntax, operators, data types, and built‐in functionality upon which complex solutions can be built. This chapter talks about ECMAScript variables and operators that can be used to manipulate data values, Boolean operators, and flow‐control statements. Understanding ECMAScript and its intricacies is vital to a complete understanding of JavaScript as implemented in web browsers. The basic data types in ECMAScript are Undefined, Null, Boolean, Number, and String. The functions in ECMAScript behave differently than functions in other languages. There is no need to specify the return value of the function. Any number of arguments can be passed into a function and are accessible through the arguments object.