Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Format
Review: This is the way a JavaScript reference should be. If you have this book, you don't need another book on JavaScript at all. Covers both IE and Netscape.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Format
Review: This is the way a JavaScript reference should be. If you have this book, you don't need another book on JavaScript at all. Covers both IE and Netscape.
Rating:
Summary: This is the way it should be
Review: This JavaScript reference is a truly good computer book. It covers client-side scripting very well. It is very well laid out with a short tutorial section at the front of the book and a very long and well written Reference section. This book is the answer to all simple cross-browser scripting problems since it has a thorough indication of which browsers any particular function will work in. (It may somewhat over-simplify some DHTML issues). In addition, it is also a good Jscript reference and very useful for doing server-side Asp programming in Jscript (which is a better choice than VBscript for ASP, really). This book also covers the powerful topic of regular expressions (which seem to be an under-rated aspect of Javascript). Every function has sample code with it. This is a joy to read. One small reservation I would make, is that the Examples often do not have any indication of what the results from that code would be in the browser etc- which detracts slightly from the learning experience. This book would also be an invaluable reference for doing Windows Scripting Host scripting using J(ava)Script. In summary, this is the sort of computer book that you only rarely find. Perhaps the only sad thing is that such a good book has been written about a topic that is perhaps not of the first interest to serious programmers.
Rating:
Summary: Patience will pay off handsomely
Review: Wyke et al. offer a great book. The informative tutorial is an absolute must for those with little programming experience, because it explains JavaScript features clearly, accurately, and logically. If the reader diligently studies the tutorial (at least twice), the voluminous examples in the book will come to life. For best results, I suggest the following strategy: 1. Diligently study the JavaScript tutorial.
2. Identify an example you would like to play with.
3. Load the example in your browser and interact with the example's functionality.
4. Study the example's source code (as hard copy or in a text editor) until you understand it thoroughly. If you cannot understand the example, then repeat Step 1.
5. To see whether you really understand the source code, modify the code so that it will behave differently, and then test it out in your browser. In just a few days, Step 1 will become increasingly less necessary and it will be easier to complete Steps 2-5. Finally, I believe that it is a good overall strategy to invest in more than one book. I would also recommend Goodman's JavaScript Bible and its companion.
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