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I recently found out about and downloaded a wonderful little package called script.aculo.us, for more information, check out my post on it. I’m going to assume that you have already downloaded script.aculo.us, which includes the Prototype JavaScript framework. The framework contains many functions, but we’re only going to cover two right now. These functions will be $ and $F (weird names, but you’ll find out why soon!)

The first function, $, will make your JavaScript development hundred’s of times faster. Honestly. Now, typing out document.getElementById(’id’) can get rather tiresome pretty quickly. Prototype’s $ function recgonizes this, it does the same thing as document.getElementById, but does it in one character! Here’s an example if you’re still a little confused:

var the_html = $(‘my_div’).innerHTML;

The next function is $F, it’s for forms. All you need to do is give one paramater, that is the input, select, radio button, etc name. $F will return the current value of that field! No more document.form_name.field_name.value, hoorah! Another example in case you’re still in the dark:

Enter your name: <input type=‘text’ id=‘my_name’ /> - <input type=‘button’ onclick=“alert(’Hi’ + $F(’my_name’) + ‘, I\’m Mike!);” value=’say hi!’ />

This is just the basics of Prototype, the rest of it is even cooler!