Rating: 
Summary: Good book, in terms of techniques provided and taught
Review: As a junior level computer science major at the University of New Orleans, I would like to inform everybody who is thinking about buying this book or any other programming-related book that computer programming, along with other logical subjects, such as mathematics, involves a lot of practice. If you were to read the chapters in this book as if you were reading a John Grisham novel, you will not understand anything. I am telling you all this first because, as you have noticed, this book is receiving very low ratings from a majority of the reviewers because these reviewers claim that the book's format and content are rather cryptic in nature. As a computer science major, I've read my share of programming books. This book is, in my opinion, the second best book on programming I have ever read. Reviewers who have given this book a low rating must not have taken the time necessary to try and comprehend each chapter or, in some cases, each sentence written.Moncur dwells a good deal into the techniques of Javascript. For example, he shows how one can solve a problem that involves evaluating given information by using "if" statements. Let's say we ask a user to choose a number from a menu screen provided. If the user chooses "1," then something will happen. If the user chooses "2," then something else will happen, and so on. Moncur teaches another way of implementing such problems by using "case" statements. Buy this book and find out for yourself what a "case" statement is. Moncur also gives at least two complete examples in every chapter that deals with new techniques in Javascript. He tediously documents everything he does in such examples. Overall, this is a good book and Michael Moncur is a good author!
Rating: 
Summary: Know what you're getting into
Review: Full of mistakes... Some were easy for a novice programmer to figure out but as I recall nothing (or at least very little) past like hour 19 worked--not even the examples provided right on the web site. I don't know whether this is because of lack of browser support or mistakes or both. This publisher shows absolutely no shame. Don't publish a new edition if it leaves you off worse than the first one!
Rating:
Summary: Good starters manual
Review: Great book for beginners - certainly no complaints as to the examples offered. Can be misinterpretted though as too much of a reference manual, when in fact, it is missing a number of important details. No technical errors as far as I know.
Rating:
Summary: Not a good book unless you have a lot of time to kill!
Review: I did not benefit from this book much. Too much fluff... As a result it takes a lot of time to find anything useful in it. If you are familiar with any programming language at all (say Basic, Pascal) this book will dissapoint you as it spends a lot of time on explaining basics you already know. On the other hand, not enough emphasis is put on more advanced concepts such as objects, for instance. Also, the examples in the book are hardly inspirational. Buy another book and avoid wasting your time and money!
Rating:
Summary: OK...And Then???
Review: I have a good background in HTML, ASP w/ VBS, and SQL. JavaScript was my next step. I was really getting into the book for about the first 6 chapters, and then before I knew it, I was at the end of the book. I knew all of these symbols and "code", but I did not feel as if I knew anything about JavaScript. If I had it to do over, I would buy a different book to get started. I am going to try one of Wrox beginner books and just start over.
Rating:
Summary: OK...And Then???
Review: I have a good background in HTML, ASP w/ VBS, and SQL. JavaScript was my next step. I was really getting into the book for about the first 6 chapters, and then before I knew it, I was at the end of the book. I knew all of these symbols and "code", but I did not feel as if I knew anything about JavaScript. If I had it to do over, I would buy a different book to get started. I am going to try one of Wrox beginner books and just start over.
Rating:
Summary: Not bad, but the promised answers are not on the web!
Review: I picked up Sams Teach Yourself Javascript, 2nd edition, because I have immensely enjoyed other Sams books. I was quite disappointed from the outset. I am new to programming and while there were in depth explanations about some things, others were just introduced and then left hanging. I think the worst though, is that all chapter exercises are supposed to have answers on the web, and this is clearly stated in the book, yet as of today (20 Feb, 2001 - book printed October 2000) there are still no answers to any exercises anywhere on the "official" website for the book. A disgrace!! I dont know how they are allowed to print lies like this, if it is stated in the book it should exist. Exceptionally disappointed! This book, and the author, have made me become hesitant in purchasing other Sams material. Real shame!
Rating: 
Summary: Not for programmer or non-programmer
Review: I read the reviews after I bought the book (dumb!). As a programmer, this book is easy (boring) to follow but I can see how non-programmers would have a hard time following it. I didn't get too much out of it.
However, the examples were so trivial as to be non-interesting to pursue. I bought the book as a follow-up to the SAMS "Teach yourself HTML and XHTML in 24 Hours" so was disappointed to find that this author didn't provide examples that were XHTML compliant. And the few explanations and samples in that book were better than this whole 2nd book.
Rating: 
Summary: Belongs in a recycling bin
Review: I think the author intended for the audience for this book to be people who knew HTML but had no programming knowledge. Wrong. I know HTML *extremely* well and write SQL queries and stored procedures on a regular basis. I found this book AGONIZINGLY difficult to follow. The author assumed that a 1 line mention of an operator (&&) would be sufficient for you to both understand it and remember it when it pops up again 10 pages or so later, MINUS a complete explanation of the script you are running. Sorry, but people who only know HTML (and no other languages) are NOT going to know what an operator is, much less have all of them memorized instantly. They are also not going to be able to follow incomplete snippets that pass for "examples." Also, showing people the wrong way to do something is probably not a good idea...they'll figure that out all on their own, as programmers make mistakes ALL THE TIME. Being able to look up *correct* examples is the best way. This book sucks, and whether you're a beginner or an advanced programmer, there is likely a better book out there for your money.
Rating:
Summary: Good, Bad and well ugly
Review: I used this book in conjunction with their web site and found it very good. The book by itself was rather insufficient however the web site proved to be the saving grace in my opinion. This book paved the way for me to move on the the JavaScript Bible (a bit more complex). This book is a Good Start for a beginner - just make sure to use the web site.
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