COOL FREE JAVASCRIPT 1.7 SUPPORT

I finally decided to learn JavaScript. I read `JavaScript: The Good Parts' and it seemed to be a bit outdated wrt the great new features JavaScript has gotten in the past few years, such as becoming a FIOC ripoff. When I started to experiment with those in my macfag browser (that seems to advertise itself as the best thing to happen to JavaScript since someone fooling people into believing that web browsers can be used for application delivery), none of those features seem to work (as in syntax error). I'm most probably doing something wrong, but is there a good THE reference for what the fuck is going on with this crap?

Also, should I use a library? If so, which one?