Rating: 
Summary: Just another Cookbook!
Review: I don't know what all the hype is about in regards to THAU!'s book as being so great. It is not. It is just another Cookbook posing as instruction, with all kinds of typos and code that just doesn't work all only written moderately well. To my knowledge there is no single book I can recommend to anyone who wants to learn JavaScript from the ground up. Every book I have read leaves out huge relevant chunks of information except O'Reily's book but it is mega over kill in detail. So Mr Thau!'s book will be added to the pile of books I own on JavaScript. Maybe Mr.McClennen will take up JavaScript and write about it!?Brice Bowman
Rating: 
Summary: good for wannabe programmers
Review: I enjoyed the use of real-world examples in this book. I'm a java programmer who used a little bit of javascript at work but wanted to learn more about it. This is a good book for someone thinking about getting into programming. It introduces you to some basic programming practices (loops, variables, functions) while teaching you javascript. For this same reason, I would not recommend this book to a programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool man....cool
Review: I first read some of Thau!'s instruction with the Javascript tutorials on Webmonkey. Knowing how well many of the monkey articles were written, I decided to get this book. I found it well written and lays out fundamentals in an easy pace without leaving the reader (me) behind. The book is by no means a definitive guide to all that is Javascript, but does provide a good plan of learning for beginners and some key practical concepts for those who dabble in JS, wanting to learn more. Also, who cant get a book with a cool Beatnik Kat on the cover!
Rating:
Summary: This is one great book to have by your side.
Review: I have been trying to learn JavaScript for over 6 months now and the while I understand the basics the more advanced features are still a mystery to me. That was until I found the Book Of JavaScript. Broken down to the beginner level and starting with a very basic introduction to JavaScript I found that I was able to understand the concepts as well as retain them. After the intro you move to functions such as the alert prompt. The author does a good job of making sure you understand before moving on. You'll also cover topics like rollovers, manipulating windows and then begin to write your own functions. Also covered in the book is forms, arrays and loops as well as setting up timing events, frames, I mage maps, cookies and DHTML. One thing I really liked about this book was the author's breakdown of how to fix broken code. After spending time working with the book I can now see why it sold over 20,000 in the first two months. The cd-rom include has a demo of Dreamweaver 3.0, Adobe Go Live 4.0 and an assortment of other software. Overall this book is by far one of the best I have worked.
Rating:
Summary: Very practical for beginners but somewhat dated
Review: I just picked this one up because I was looking to juice up a website I've been working on. The first couple of hours I spent with it were golden. I learned a lot of what I was interested in knowing quite quickly. One thing that struck me, however, was how dated it was - the author likes to reference real world websites but every real world example that I looked up online had been completely redesigned since this book was published in 2000.
The book also spends a somewhat annoying amount of time discussing differences between browsers like Netscape 2.0 and IE 4.0... Netscape is currently at version 7.0, IE is at 6.0. Dealing with the different browsers and the way they render java was much more of an issue three years ago (although it definitely still is an issue b/c pesky microsoft likes monopolize everything did its best to turn java into something that could only be compatible with IE). Point being his discussion of this issue is dated.
Anyway, the book is well written and the author is not a tech head looking to show off how complex his field is. The book puts things forward practically (as the subtitle suggests it should) and the result is if you are a java novice and you want to add java functionality to your website, this book provides the answers in a way that is aimed more at the bottom line of getting that functionality into your website and less at providing you with a big picture understanding of java.
To summarize, this book, aside from being somewhat dated, is a very well organized guidebook for someone who wants a working understanding of the elements of java that suit their basic purposes. It is not for someone looking to become a real java maven.
Rating:
Summary: Very practical for beginners but somewhat dated
Review: I just picked this one up because I was looking to juice up a website I've been working on. The first couple of hours I spent with it were golden. I learned a lot of what I was interested in knowing quite quickly. One thing that struck me, however, was how dated it was - the author likes to reference real world websites but every real world example that I looked up online had been completely redesigned since this book was published in 2000.
The book also spends a somewhat annoying amount of time discussing differences between browsers like Netscape 2.0 and IE 4.0... Netscape is currently at version 7.0, IE is at 6.0. Dealing with the different browsers and the way they render java was much more of an issue three years ago (although it definitely still is an issue b/c pesky microsoft likes monopolize everything did its best to turn java into something that could only be compatible with IE). Point being his discussion of this issue is dated.
Anyway, the book is well written and the author is not a tech head looking to show off how complex his field is. The book puts things forward practically (as the subtitle suggests it should) and the result is if you are a java novice and you want to add java functionality to your website, this book provides the answers in a way that is aimed more at the bottom line of getting that functionality into your website and less at providing you with a big picture understanding of java.
To summarize, this book, aside from being somewhat dated, is a very well organized guidebook for someone who wants a working understanding of the elements of java that suit their basic purposes. It is not for someone looking to become a real java maven.
Rating:
Summary: good book, but...
Review: I like the book -- easy to read and explains a lot of how current web sites work. like watching one of those "explain how the magicians do it" shows. Before plunking down your hard earned money, though, you should check out the (website) where the author makes most of his written points in an online tutorial. (...) With the book you get a reference guide and some more detail, but the book's a beginner book to start with, so perhaps your money's better spent on a more advanced book.
Rating:
Summary: Reads like a book rather than a MicroSoft Tomb
Review: I recently became interested in learning JavaScript. The only practical experience with it came from using applications such as Adobe ImageReady to generate it for me. I began by searching Webmonkey.com. I discovered their a awesome tutorial series written by Thau!. I completed these tutorials in 3 days and was hungry for more. I discovered his book that weekend. The book reads very well and keeps you interested with real world examples. If you are looking for a be all end all source on JavaScript buy an O'reily book. But, if you are looking for a good place to start, Thau!'s book is the one to buy. Don't take my word for it, go to webmonkey.com and search for JavaScript tutorials and sample some of his work. Thanks Thau!
Rating:
Summary: I build web pages for a living
Review: I'm always on the lookout for good reference books. Every time I need to look something up, this book brings a smile to my face. It's rare to find a book with so few pretensions and so much information. Though I have been coding javascript for years, it is not something I do every day and I often need to refresh my memory when I'm working on new projects. I haven't had this book long, but it hasn't failed me yet. I highly recommend the Book of JavaScript.
Rating:
Summary: It doesn't get any better than this
Review: I've been anxiously awaiting the release of this book... and all my anticipation has been well rewarded! The real world examples, friendly language and clear explanations on every page make using this book a real pleasure. This book is a must for beginners and I'd say for more advanced users as well. The reference appendix at the end is great for looking things up. Thank you Thau!
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