Does 'proper' Javascript API Documentation exist?

Question

Having become used to having auto-generated API docs for most of the languages I use it seems that there's a giant hole where Javascript documentation should be. I can't find any simple Javascript documentation thats arranged by object/module that lists Class and Instance methods in a 'standard' way. A few questions:

1. Am I missing something? Is there a Javascript equivalent to http://api.rubyonrails.org/ or http://java.sun.com/javase/6/docs/api/index.html
2. If it doesn't exist any suggestions on what the best way to generate them would be?

Answer 1

Mozilla has one of the best.

https://developer.mozilla.org/en/JavaScript

Answer 2

This is the one I like the most.
Core JavaScript Reference at Mozilla.org

It's not structured with a clickable tree on the left but it's very good, clean and easy to navigate around.

Answer 3

ECMAScript 262 3rd edition, is the specification that all modern implementations of JS seek to conform to.

More readable documentation can be found at developer.mozilla.org.

Answer 4

http://www.w3schools.com/jsref/default.asp

That one works for most of my needs.

Answer 5

It's not perfect, but w3schools is out there. I'd also recommend a few books, the rhino book and the ferret book. The latter is more general than the first. The former has an excellent api section.

Answer 6

I'd also recommend JavaScript: The Definitive Guide (aka The Rhino Book) by David Flanagan, published by O'Reilly. The is by far the best reference on not only the JavaScript language but also the APIs exposed by the major implementations.

Answer 7

The old classic PDF Client-Side JavaScript Reference Version 1.3 is the best imo. Doesn´t cover DOM ofc but all the really native stuff is there and well explained.

Answer 8

There is EMCAscript/Javascript the Language, and Javascript's libraries. Since Javascript is mainly used in a web browser environment, those libraries deal with the DOM, HTML, etc. However, the core language should be the same no matter which implementation you're using.

Mozilla has great documentation for their implementation of Javascript and also for the libraries that Firefox has for use with Javascript.

Microsoft also has documentation for their implementation of EMCAScript which they call JScript.NET. They apparently have two different Javascript implementations running in IE8 and you'll have to refer somewhere else for documentation on IE8's javascript libraries.

The JScript.NET reference is here.