JavaScript Computer Book Reviews

This Fifth Edition is completely revised and expanded to cover JavaScript as it is used in today's Web 2.0 applications. This book is both an example-driven programmer's guide and a keep-on-your-desk reference, with new chapters that explain everything you need to know to get the most out of JavaScript, including:

Part I explains the core JavaScript language in detail. If you are new to JavaScript, it will teach you the language. If you are already a JavaScript programmer, Part I will sharpen your skills and deepen your understanding of the language.

Part II explains the scripting environment provided by web browsers, with a focus on DOM scripting with unobtrusive JavaScript. The broad and deep coverage of client-side JavaScript is illustrated with many sophisticated examples that demonstrate how to:

Part III is a complete reference for core JavaScript. It documents every class, object, constructor, method, function, property, and constant defined by JavaScript 1.5 and ECMAScript Version 3.

Part IV is a reference for client-side JavaScript, covering legacy web browser APIs, the standard Level 2 DOM API, and emerging standards such as the XMLHttpRequest object and the canvas tag.

More than 300,000 JavaScript programmers around the world have made this their indispensable reference book for building JavaScript applications.

"A must-have reference for expert JavaScript programmers...well-organized and detailed."
-- Brendan Eich, creator of JavaScript

Pro JavaScript Techniques is the ultimate JavaScript book for the modern web developer. It provides everything you need to know about modern JavaScript, and shows what JavaScript can do for your web sites. This book doesn't waste any time looking at things you already know, like basic syntax and structures.

Expert web developer and author John Resig concentrates on fundamental, vital topics--what modern JavaScripting is (and isn't), the current state of browser support, and pitfalls to be wary of. The book is organized into four sections:

All concepts are backed up by real-world examples and case studies, and John provides numerous reusable functions and classes to save you time in your development. There are also up-to-date reference appendixes for the DOM, events, browser support (including IE7), and frameworks--so you can look up specific details quickly and easily.

JavaScript is one of the most important technologies on the web. It provides the means to add dynamic functionality to your web pages and serves as the backbone of Ajax-style web development. Beginning JavaScript with DOM Scripting and Ajax is an essential guide for modern JavaScript programming; it's practical but comprehensive. It covers everything you need to know to get up to speed with JavaScript development to add dynamic enhancements to web pages and program Ajax-style applications.

Experienced web developer Christian Heilmann begins gently by giving you an overview of JavaScript--its syntax, good coding practices, and the principles of DOM scripting. Then he builds up your JavaScript toolkit, covering dynamically manipulating markup, changing page styling on the fly using the CSS DOM, validating forms, dealing with images, and much more. Then he takes you to advanced territory, with a complete case study illustrating how many new JavaScript techniques can work together, plus a great introduction to Ajax development.

Optimize your code so that it runs faster Create Ajax applications with the XmlHttpRequest object Validate web forms to improve usability Take control of your web pages with the DOM Ensure that your JavaScript code is accessible Create slick drop-down menu systems

Included in this book is extensive coverage of DHTML and Ajax, including how-to create and customize advanced effects such as draggable elements, dynamically sorting data in a Web Browser, advanced menu systems, retrieving data from a Web Server using XMLHttpRequest and more.

The JavaScript Anthology also includes extensive coverage of object oriented coding, efficient script design, accessibility, and cross-browser issues. Best of all, you'll get download access to all the code used in the book, so you can put the scripts to use instantly.
Customer Review: Just What I Needed
I purchased this book out of desperation after using a 1000 page Javascript Wrox book published in 2000 that was worse than useless. The author's blog posting here is very accurate: it is a modern javascript book that gives usable solutions and concepts that work well. I recommend this book to anyone who has at least some programming background and is sick of cut and pasting garbage code from other mickey mouse tutorial sites that break at the slightest change. It is also a great start for working with AJAX, which is what I needed it for. That said, the book is surprisingly a great read. I am reading this book cover to cover and also use it as an every day reference with dozens of tips. It is obvious the authors have worked extensively with web sites and write from experience. Thanks for a job well done!
Customer Review: Javascript 4 U
This is an excellent next-step up from an introduction to Javascript and looks at its use in real world situations. You will need to be reasonably fluent in the language to get the best out of it. The book presents a topic as a question and then presents code to action that query as a solution, then goes through that code in a discussion section. This is where I have a relatively minor criticism of this book; the necessities of discussing the code do not always mesh well with the question and answer format of the layout. The authors have gone to great effort to ensure that the book is as up-to-date as possible, though this is a rapidly moving target of course, and detail how to ensure that the code will run on as many platforms as possible, rarely giving up and saying 'forget it..', though this proved necessary in a number of the more esoteric options and older browsers. A highly recommended read if you are looking for a quick solution, or a detailed understanding of what's going on.

Whether you're an old-school scripter who needs to modernize your JavaScripting skills or a standards-aware Web developer who needs best practices and code examples, you'll welcome this guide from a JavaScript master.

Other JavaScript books use example scripts that have little bearing on real-world Web development and are useful only in the chapter at hand. In contrast, Peter-Paul Koch's book uses eight real-world scripts he created for real-world clients in order to earn real-world money. That means the scripts are guaranteed to do something useful (and sellable!) that enhances the usability of the page they're used on.

The book's example scripts include one that sorts a data table according to the user's search queries, a form validation script, a script that shows form fields only when the user needs them, a drop-down menu, and a data retrieval script that uses simple Ajax and shows the data in an animation.

After an overview of JavaScript's purpose, Peter-Paul provides theoretical chapters on the context (jobs for JavaScript, CSS vs. JavaScript), the browsers (debugging, the arcana of the browser string), and script preparation. Then follow practical chapters on Core, BOM, Events, DOM, CSS Modification, and Data Retrieval, all of which are explained through a combination of theoretical instruction and the taking apart of the relevant sections of the example scripts.

Learning JavaScript introduces this powerful scripting language to web designers and developers in easy-to-understand terms. Using the latest examples from modern browser development practices, this book teaches you how to integrate the language with the browser environment, and how to practice proper coding techniques for standards-compliant web sites. By the end of the book, you'll be able to use all of the JavaScript language and many of the object models provided by web browsers, and you'll even be able to create a basic Ajax application.

The JavaScript Pocket Reference is a companion volume to JavaScript: The Definitive Guide. This small book, covering JavaScript 1.2, is a handy reference guide to this popular language for Web development. It provides a complete overview of the core JavaScript language and contains summaries of both core and client-side objects, methods, and properties.
Customer Review: Where's the rest?
I realize it's a pocket reference, but this is a brief guide to syntax and then the DOM for the rest of the book. It doesn't cover any of the API stuff like the Date class. It'd be nice to have more information at the price of needing slightly larger pockets.
Customer Review: Moderately good.
I am not a big fan of these 'Pocket Reference' books by O'Reilly. Although I have 8 of them, I find them too brief to be very helpful as a reference. Usually they come up short on many parts of the language. Recently I needed a refresher in JavaScript, and turned to Flanagan. I read the first part of the book to the API Reference on page 52. This seemed like a concentrated and intense refresher. For that one purpose, I think I received good value for my time. I would never use it as a real reference because each subject is just barely mentioned, not covered in any kind of detail. There is no index, plus examples are too few and short to learn from it. So for my limited purpose, I liked it, but would never consider it as a learning tool or actual reference. If this meets your need, fine. Otherwise do not expect too much from this book. This is an un-paid real opinion. Not all ratings and opinions are honest or unbiased. Some are bought and paid for. Follow the 'See all my ...' and judge for yourself. Learn the industry secret when you see many such high score opinions from one person particularly right after the dates of publication. Educate yourself before you rely on someone who has been paid to deceive you.

You'll not only have quick access to the scripts you need, you'll finally understand why the scripts work, how to alter the scripts to get the effects you want, and, ultimately, how to write your own groundbreaking scripts from scratch. Through his popular Web site, Nick Heinle has been showing Web designers and other nonprogrammers how to create the scripts they need. In fact, he wrote much of the JavaScript used on the Web today. This book is the culmination of his work. His explanations are clear, detailed, and accessible; everything -- every script, every concept, every line -- is explained so that "the rest of us" will understand.

Designing with JavaScript covers many of the powerful capabilities that JavaScript is given with Dynamic HTML, in a few chapters covering important aspects of implementing Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 as well as Netscape Navgigator 4.0. You'll learn how to create pages on the fly, how to identify users' browsers, how to create "rollover" effects with sound, graphics, and animation, and more. It also features a CD-ROM and Web site that provide fast access to some of the author's most useful functions and scripts, making it easy to find the code you need and to build your own custom scripts.
Customer Review: Good Book for Beginner
This admirable book tells beginners how to create dynamic web pages. It teaches you the basics about JavaScript. Also, it has a nice introduction about object-oriented JavaScript.
Customer Review: Excellent working Examples
I have used this book for over 4 years and still find it an excellent resource for code samples and simple scripts. No, it is not a comprehensive review of Javascript. Yes, it will get you on your way to building good client side validation and simple document object manipulation.

Flash MX 2004 and Flash MX Professional 2004 introduce a new extensibility architecture. This is not an upgrade to an existing feature, but a brand new concept that nobody using an earlier version of Flash has seen or used before. With the extensibility tools, which include behaviors, custom-made tools and commands, the JavaScript API (or JSFL), and the XML-to-UI API, you can literally extend Flash to do things it cannot do out of the box. Things such as adding new custom commands to the menu and customizing the tool bar, adding brand new, custom created tools. The commands could be as simple as drawing a commonly used shape on the stage, or as complex as creating an entire new Flash movie from scratch. Tools take into account mouse actions and property inspector parameters. This allows you for custom shapes much as are seen in Microsoft Office, for example, stars, callouts, arrows, etc.

These new features will not only allow users to share code and effects more easily within the community or a production environment, but will also allow developers to package up and reuse more within Flash than was ever possible before, increasing productivity and decreasing production times. Some simple commands, tools, effects and behaviors will be included with Flash MX 2004, but the possibilities of what one could do with these are staggering. Virtually anything you can do in the authoring environment can now be written into a command or behavior.

JavaScript Design shows designers how to create interactive JavaScript applications for the web. It provides detailed descriptions of JavaScript structures, statements and objects, using JavaScript to create different elements of a web page,controlling a page's overall design and function with JavaScript, passing data and variables between clients and servers. Also covered are advanced topics server-side languages: PHP, Perl, ASP, CGI, XML, connections to Java and Cold Fusion. The line between developers and designers is fading. Designers are challenged with projects that require them to have a strong knowledge of the server side issues traditionally fielded by a web developer. Designers are looking for books that teach them the web developer knowledge in a language in which they are accustomed.

JavaScript Unleashed serves as a complete reference to the JavaScript language for the experienced programmer as well as a guide for developing JavaScript but familiar with other programming languages. Over the years JavaScript has solidified its position as the de facto standard in Web site scripting-even Microsoft uses JavaScript on its Web sites. And the capabilities of JavaScript have gradually been extended to the server side and to third-party products. JavaScript can be used in both Microsofts .NET environment and Windows Script Host, and Adobe Web development products are beginning to use JavaScript as their built-in scripting language.