JavaScript, NOT FOR DUMMIES
920685
Uhh, i've been writing javaScript for money for years now. When i saw that my usually intelligent roomate was having trouble learning this easy language, i decided to look into it. I picked up this book, that he had been using and i found his problem immediatley. I looked over the first few chapters, and even i became confused. The beginning (most important) chapters are horribly laid out and poorly explained. The author's attempt at humor is pathetic as well.
3579734
A JavaScript library is not a great deal of use unless you know how to use it properly. There is little point in having a library that is supposed to make things simpler for you if you end up with code that uses the library that is al long and convoluted as you'd need without the library. This particular book covers over 180 "how to" uses for the jQuery library and not only shows you how to write your code in the most effective way to deal with those requirements, it also explains why you should do it that way and how the code achieves the desired result.

By writing your JavaScript the way that this book demonstrates you will achieve the greatest benefit out of your decision to use the jQuery library as a part of your code.

The book begins with a list of a whole series of benefits that you can achieve by using the jQuery library instead of writing all your own JavaScript code or using an alternative JavaScript library. The rest of the book shows you how to achieve those benefits.

Also, while the book does not set out to teach jQuery, anyone with a decent knowledge of JavaScript should be able to make use of the book without first needing to get a separate book on jQuery. jQuery itself is written entirely in JavaScript and so all that any JavaScript programmer needs to know in order to be able to use the library is what calls to the library to make in order to achieve the desired processing. As the book starts with the basic functionality that the library provides to make interacting with the web page easier the book should be quite usable for an experienced JavaScript programmer to use as their starting point for incorporating jQuery into their pages. I could even go so far as to say that someone who isn't able to take the information that this book provides and be able to properly and effectively use jQuery without first needing to read a beginners jQuery tutorial probably doesn't know JavaScript wekk enough to be using a library at all since JavaScript libraries can only be used effectively when you know enough JavaScript to know what it is that you are trying to achieve. The book does recognise that there are many people who do try to use jQuery without understanding JavaScript well enough to use it properly as at one point it asks experienced jQuery users to go easy on those posting simple JavaScript questions in jQuery forums.
3706638
Christian Wenz was writing about AJAX before AJAX was invented...er, coined, so he knows a lot about JavaScript. He can succinctly differentiate the marketing of DHTML from the usability of DOM as an object model and API. He has expertise in both the Microsoft and Open Source realms. And, Wenz helped create the Phrasebook series. This is not a book for "Dummies," this is the real thing.

Lots of web sites are using AJAX libraries today, and way too many web designers have called upon JavaScript with client-side tricks downloaded over the years. What a typical developer needs are clear methods for tweaking AJAX, fixing buggy tricks, and just for making the quick hack on the client to solve a problem.

While a book this small can't begin to cover everything, it has an intelligent outline that does cover many common code techniques. Best of all, the Phrasebook format has the right balance of explanation to code. It's tighter than an O'Reilly Nutshell edition, while handier than a Pocket Guide. Let's face it, a selection from the latter series does fit in your pocket, but at the expense of no explanations nor examples.

Here's an example of a handy hack easily solved with the JavaScript Phrasebook, one that might not be so obvious to a JavaScript novice. You've got a dynamic iframe element inside of a static web page, and you want to pass a parameter from the static URL. Huh, aren't query strings for dynamic pages? Sure, but what's the hack? Wenz provides a short item on "Retrieving GET Parameters" in Chapter 2 on "Common Phrases" along with "Using Iframes" in Chapter 9 on Windows and Frames.

So, if you are a developer in need of such essentials on the fly, you'll find the JavaScript Phrasebook to be handy. Oh yeah, it does fit in a pocket.
3581924
One of the most important aspects of any new language, be it spoken, written, or software-based, is the syntax and usage rules.  This book, while advertised for the beginner and intermediate, skips over this most  crucial aspect of learning javascript and delves immediately into example  programming.  I was on my third chapter, still waiting for the detailed  discussion of javascript syntax before I realized that the two or so odd  pages in chapter one was all I was going to get.  I have spent hours trying  to decipher their example code because I do not understand the fundamental  constructs of the objects, methods, and event handlers.  I am learning  javascript, but mostly due to my existing knowledge of C and C++, not  because of any teaching from this book.  Short of copying the example code  verbatim, I think most beginner and intermediate users will find that they  do not have the understanding of javascript in which to solve unique  problems on their web pages.  If an exact example is not in the book, they  will be unable to use their knowledge of javascript to deduce a solution.  I found this book very disappointing, especially after really enjoying this  "visual" approach in Elizabeth Castro's HTML for the World Wide  Web.  Advanced javascript users will undoubtedly pick up clever programming  ideas from this book, but if you are actually trying to LEARN this  language, you will be disappointed.
4407564
That hasn't already been stated in other reviews.

Basically, if you have any experience with structured scripting languages whatsoever - even basic JavaScript - you can learn (or freshen up) C# with this book quite easily.  It presents the information in a way that is easy for those who learn by definition: Telling you what each reference is and what it does, then showing you an example of how it's used and what the outcome will be.

My only real complaint, and it may not be a complaint for you, is that there doesn't seem to be a plan or methodology, no linearity, in the way the information is given.  It jumps around in a way that is a bit difficult to follow; the content is easy to understand, but I was hoping for something that more closely emulates stepping through an actual script.  Start with the 'using' reference, explain that, then go to some of the common entry points and explain those, etc.  You don't learn about 'using' until like 50 pages into the book, even though that's 9 times out of 10 the first line in the code.

Small nitpick, but it did affect me a bit, so I felt it necessary to note here in case you feel the same.

I suggest if you can find this book at a Borders or Barnes and Noble and can flip through it before buying (and I would suggest buying it from Amazon to save $10 if you like it), please do so.  Make sure the layout of the book works for you.  The content is guaranteed to.
4671633
If the world were ideal, there would be no crime, poverty, or JavaScript.  Unfortunately, the world, being nonideal, has lots of those things, and so we must figure out ways to deal with them.  I'm not sure about crime or poverty, but I am sure that one of the best ways to deal with JavaScript is to read this book.  In it, David Flanagan does as superb a job as is possible with the mess that is JavaScript -- a language that was designed with one foot in the modern world and one foot in ancient Babylonia.  (No, I take it back -- not even the Babylonians would have made so many design mistakes.  But I digress, back to the book, which treats the material with which it must work in a most excellent manner.)  If you have to read or write JavaScript, then you would be doing yourself a disservice by not reading this book from cover to cover.  The only complaint I have about it is my universal complaint about all O'Reilly books: It is too wordy, with too many explanations of obvious stuff.  Fortunately, I've gotten good at skimming.
2209447
Definitely not for the beginner. It skims over fundamental JS concepts too readily without enlightening or catching the reader. Yet another programming book where the author fails to understand the novice programmer and instead chugs along leaving the beginning programmer behind, confused and wanting more.

Plus, good luck to anyone who can follow the first chapter in installing the requisite programs to follow along the rest of the book, Obsolete and confusing code instructions. The rest of the book doesn't get any better. You kind of wonder if there are any programming authors out there who understands and can communicate with beginning programmers.

At 1,000 pages, the better O'Reilly book to begin learning JavaScript is "JavaScript "by David Flanagan--slow-paced, meticulous, covers all the bases with readable, comprehensible text. David Crockford, JS guru at Yahoo! and Paypal, also touts David Flanagan's book the best JS programming  book out there.
4175880
ONE REVIEW STATED THAT THIS BOOK IS NOT FOR DUMMIES, BUT FOR THOSE WHO REALLY KNEW THEIR WAY AROUND ADVANCED PROGRAMING. I TOTALLY AGREE. I HAVE USED ADOBE PRODUCTS FOR MORE THAN 15 YEARS AND FOUND THIS BOOK TAKING ME TO FAMILIAR PLACES, THUS THE SOLUTIONS CAME EASY FOR ME. IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST TIME DIPPING YOUR TOES INTO THE POOL, KEEP LOOKING. THE WATER IS DEEP AND COLD HERE. FIND SOMETHING MORE ELEMENTARY FOR THE BEGINNER, THEN COME BACK AND GET THIS BOOK.
440388
This book describes the obvious. I had prior knowledge about HTML so I found this book a breeze. Anybody else with little to no knowledge of HTML would love this book. This book is laid out in a goofy way. It does say "create a web page in a weekend". But, that is what i didn't like about it. It tells you to do certain things on Saturday (for example) then it'll say stop and wait for Sunday...Not my favorite layout for learning how to make a webpage.
2631226
I tend to read book reviews starting from the low star ones first. R. Friesel Jr. "found_drama"'s 2 star review has the merits.

Basically javascript has no class, but objects. For a beginner to javascript, who might have other OOP experience, seeing all the "new" keywords in the book, could slip to the misunderstanding that javascript is class based and can be programmed, for example like ruby. It is far from the truth.

The key is, as pointed out by Stoyan Stefanov's "Javascript Patterns" book, to use object literal {} whenever possible. To give credit to this author (add one more star), he does mention Stoyan's book in the "conclusion" part of the book.

So my recommendation is to read this book together with Stoyan's, for the "nutrition balance" view of javascript.
701253
Overall this book was good and did teach JavaScript. However, it is most certainly not for beginner JavaScript porgrammers. Some of the sections in the book are very technical and not really necessary when first leanring JavaScript.

That being said, if you have some experience with JavaScript already, those more technical sections fill in some blanks that other books to do not.

So I would reccommended this book to those who have some experience with JavaScript to add to their library.
1388752
The authors wrote the book very well, and explain in detail what Javascript is used for, definitions, etc.

I believe this is a good book for beginners who want to learn javascript.

:)
1860770
I purchased this book YEARS ago to learn something about javascript, so I could better customize the simple scripts I had. I particularly liked the CD of scripts that was included with the book.

I still have this book as a reference for making adjustments in javascripts or writing simple code. I primarily use it to alter existing code.

This book makes it almost child's play to alter this code.

Well written and easy to understand. I loved it.
2845288
This is the best and easiest way to learn JavaScript. I have tried multiple books and Udemy but this is by far the easiest way... At least for a beginner like me.

Thanks for the hard work and keep them coming!
2134664
Amazingly Helpful learning Javascript.  I had to learn javascript for some website development and was googling around quite often, however this helped me cut my search time to a quarter of what it used to be
3405104
This book is designed for someone who is not a COMPLETE beginner. The author wrote the book in almost a alphabetical programming code in some way. What this means is the book is designed like the author thinks......in code. Basically the worded instructions (not the code though)are sort of backwards. Like how a computer reads the data input in binary to right to left. But it all makes sense when you figured out how the instruction is. I figured this out in the first pages of the initial instruction.
So be careful if you get this book. Some people may find it a bit challenging to understand, especially beginners. Please be easy on the author with your reviews. The book is complete......it's just in 'alphabetical' program code.
2162933
I find this book beginner-friendly. The information presented inside are well-organized in such a way that a reader all comprehend each detail and be able to digest it. Aside from the fundamentals, I was able to grasp the necessary skills in order to organized codes, troubleshoot and many more. I also appreciate that although JavaScript is not easy to simplify, the book presented the information in such a nice way that I will not cram or feel pressured.