[thelist] What is it?

[Diane Soini]

I know this is off topic, but I really am curious what that is that 
keeps spamming the list? How does that sort of thing happen? I'm 
curious from a technical point of view. Sorry if this is way off topic, 
but I really am interested.

<tip type="A way for the non-programmer to learn scripting">
Something that I have found very useful in getting a deeper 
understanding about javascript and similar languages is to learn Flash. 
When building a Flash application, even something that is simple and 
where you do not write the actionscript yourself, try this: Test the 
movie, then go to the menu option to Debug > View Variables. Spend some 
time reading what has been created in your movie. I have gotten a 
better understanding of javas/ecma/action/script, especially of arrays, 
hashtables and objects, by seeing how all the objects and variables are 
represented in the output window. Sometimes I have even just written 
some code just to see what happens.

Some browsers also have a similar capability to allow you to see the 
output of the javascript interpreter as it executes (more than just the 
javascript console) but offhand I can't recall any other than Omniweb.
</tip>