I've been working a bit with XMLHTTPRequest lately (specifically in relation to our SVG work). I wanted to make a quick and dirty sample of some functionality discussed with FM, so I thought JSON would be an easy way to get started. I'm not too familiar with object notation so from the start I knew I'd need to do some additional research on it. Plus I've been meaning to look more into the topic.
I wanted to use an associative array to represent the data I'm working with (essentially node/value pairs). While researching the question I came across the article JavaScript “Associative Arrays“ Considered Harmful. I was taken by surprise to find out that JavaScript only supports indexed arrays natively. Those associative arrays I thought I would be working with are actually property extensions to an object. Quite a shocker for me.
This won't drastically affect the progress of the work I'm doing right now because it's very preliminary. The eventual product will use a much more complex data set that requires a different representation within the code.
Based on this discovery, however, I feel I need to do some more research on JavaScript data structures in addition to object notation. This knowledge is certainly important from a programming standpoint ... I could easily work myself into a corner by not understanding the implementation of the objects and data structures in JavaScript.
