Rating:  Summary: Serves as a How To and a Reference Review: This is a great book that not only taught me JavaScript, but also serves as one of my main references today. A word of caution though, don't pick this book up FIRST as an intro to developing Web based client/server applications. This book will show you how to do EVERYTHING (both client and server side processing) in JavaScript. Depending on the technology you're using, this probably won't be the way should go about doing your sever side processing. I was starting to use ASP when I picked this book. I knew that JavaScript was used in ASP so I picked up the Sams Teach Yourself ASP in 21 days along with this book. Well to make a long story short, I read very little of the Sams book, and got into this one very quickly. I definitely learned JavaScript, but made things much more difficult for myself for about a month or so. That said, this is a great book.
Rating:  Summary: Not really for the beginner Review: If you really are "beginning JavaScript", then I wouldn't recommend this book. It's a large, dense volume that goes into great detail. But trying to find, for example, how to do rollovers (image swaps) in the index is an exercise in frustration. Nothing under "rollovers", nothing under "image swaps", the references for "onMouseOver" lead to examples that are too complicated. ...
Rating:  Summary: Superb introduction to JavaScript for programmers Review: The black stripe at the top of this book says "Programmer to Programmer." This is not a book of tricks, like many JavaScript titles out there. This is a book for serious programmers and it is geared to the web programmer, since JavaScript is most often used on the web client side. The book does go a bit fast in some areas, but careful reading and reviewing will help a lot and anyone who is serious about programming shouldn't have a problem. Of course, when learning any language a background in programming does help, but this book is a good starting point for anyone who is serious about actually learning how to program. If all you want is a book of tricks, this book is not for you. I would purchase the Visual Quickstart Guide to JavaScript instead, or look for a free web tutorial. There are many JavaScript sites that give tricks away for free. However, if you need to know how to build JavaScript from the ground up, I don't think you can do much better than this book.
Rating:  Summary: Not bad Review: Well another Wrox addition....I got more than enough from this book to give me a good intro to JavaScript. There are a lot of exercises and tutorial work to do that is consistent with the concepts, probably what appeals to me most about Wrox books. The first few intro chapters are REALLY dry and basic.. a veteran programmer can easily skip them over or cruise pretty quickly through them at least. But the more middle chapters are nice and meaty. The books discusion of Netscape vs IE is a bit outdated considering.. Most of that I just ignored. And I would steer clear of ever wanting to use expressions. It is a beginner book and rightfuly so. Many of the later chapters I just ignored and found I had it covered in other publications. Guess I'll be buy Pro books from now on from Wrox unless it's some language I've never used (like C#).. But it's a good and I can say that I have found plenty of useful tips, and concepts and new ideas. And anything that helps me in my job is more than welcome. Definatly recommended
Rating:  Summary: It's worth it Review: I found the learning curve to be rather bouncy. Such as chapter 4 was easier than chapter 2. All in all it's a really good book. By no means a reference book, but a good intro.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent book for those who want to learn JavaScript. Review: I love this book. The author explains everything he is trying to get across thoroughly. He goes through functions, objects, error handling, dynamic html, etc. He also has frequent sections where he has you try out the things he goes over, which helped me alot because typing the code in, as well as reading helped the stuff stick in my mind. After each try out section, he explains the code in detail, making sure you know what you did and why you did it. It's not a book if you want to learn JavaScript by tomorrow, but if you have some time to sit down and really get into it, there is no better beginning book then this one.
Rating:  Summary: Call It Javascript For Dim Review: This book is intended for people who are new to programming at all,it is not for programmers beginners to javascript. It is good book for you if you do not know arrays,loops, database related topics(like sql) The topics are explained twice always ,first when the program is written and second after the code ends!!! It took long time for me to finish only primitives to extract what is already new for me. The book ends while I need it to be starting as practical examples for our real site construction needs. However the book is excellent language written , will organized and you can know what is javascript after 900 pages reading. If you are looking for a book to till javascript techniques and master it faster,Keep shopping around.
Rating:  Summary: From Beginner to Production Review: Coming from the design world and HTML only, this book was fantastic in taking a beginner non-programmer to writing code with real world examples. Mr. Wilton does a great job at leading you along step-by-step. The book is huge, so don't think you're going to get through it in a weekend, but very well worth the time.
Rating:  Summary: Good Foundation Builder Review: I started out not knowing ANYTHING about Javascript. So I bought this book. I read cover to cover. Now I can do just about anything(NOT EVERYTHING- if you want to everything I reccommend you you get the Professional Series). It has a GREAT section on ASP, ActiveX Controls, DHTML, and databases. The only problem is that the sections on these languages are not 'in depth' but They do cover it. Also, It didnt hardly have anything on XML that why I gave it four stars. The day of writing this is, October 12,2001. That means Professional Javascript 2nd Edition will be out in a few days. To Sum up: If your a beginner buy this book, If you know some stuff about Javascript you should wait till Professional Javascript 2nd Edition comes out Buy the way: Paul Wilton is gonna be contributing to the next Professional 2nd Edition comes out
Rating:  Summary: Great Beginning Review: This is a great book to jumpstart anyone into the world of JavaScript. This book gives the reader most of the fundamentals they will need to begin professionally writing code, assuming they will supplement this reading with more advanced resources. While it doesn't talk much about using .js files or go into detail about creating your own custom objects, it gets you where you need to be to implement those advanced topics. Theories on OO programming and writing reusable code are best gotten from a book specifically on the subject. So, it is just what it says it is...a beginner's book in JavaScript. Appreciated the fact that the book covered client and server side scripting, as well. It's very clear and easy to read. As for errors and for it not being as thorough as some people would like...hell, I didn't say it was perfect...just a step above the rest.
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