Sometimes when I'm not certain about how JavaScript behaves, I want to just type a few commands and try it out.
Creating an HTML document as a test takes too long, so when I was learning JavaScript, I created a
simple shell to test commands. (Don't laugh, I wrote it
in 1996.) I still find a use for it from time to time.
Jesse Ruderman, known for his great
bookmarklets site, has created a much better JavaScript testing
environment: JavaScript Shell acts just like a command-line shell. You
can type a command or expression and it's executed immediately, displaying the result. Better yet, there's a
bookmarklet version (Mozilla only) that runs in the
context of an existing window, great for debugging.
Also useful is the JS Development Enviroment, a semi-IDE that lets you type an entire script and then execute it, and the rest of Jesse's Web Development Bookmarklets.
1. For Firefox users, the shell and the environment are both packaged with the Extension Developer's Extension. They're exactly the same, but it makes for easy access via the tools menu.
Posted at 5:49AM on Dec 19th 2005 by Bob Johnson