Rating: 
Summary: Boring - and very, very good !
Review: Let's face it: modern programming languages from C++ to Java, Javascript, etc., are absurdly difficult designs by emotionally dysfunctional, sociopathic nerds. This book isn't boring because of its style, it's boring because Javascript has an idiotic syntax to begin with. But you'll definitely learn some solid Javascript from this book, as well as the theory behind it that will make a power programmer out of you.No single book is the total answer to subjects like this one. I'd suggest additional material, like Goodman's Javascript Bible. But I do feel that this book really is a definitive source and is essential for understanding and fully using Javascript. If you're a serious programmer, you'll need the reference material as well as the how-to sections of this work. If you're a beginner, you should definitely start here.
Rating:
Summary: Definitive is the word I would use.
Review: I have tried several books on Javascritping and while they all seem to have the same format of learning, this book draws from a different line of thought, make it simple and you can learn. This book may just be the definitive guide to learning Javascritping. Starting off this 750 plus page book is the explanation how JavaScript works from the client side and then from the server side of the things. This understanding is crucial to making sure your code is set up properly and that is works correctly the first time. Other topics covered in the book include data types, values, variables, expressions, operators, functions, objects and arrays. All of these topics are detailed yet simplified so even I could understand the nature of the text. Moving on you'll also cover how to setup windows, frames, DOM, events, forms, DHTML, cookies and security. All this is coupled with actual code screen shots to show you what the final outcome should look like. The author's ability to break down each topic and show you what you need to know in order to write the best possible code is the basis of this book. Overall this book is one to have and use on a constant basis.
Rating: 
Summary: Decent Definitive Guide
Review: This a very decent reference and so-so tutorial of JavaScript. If you're doing JavaScript you definitely need this definitive guide, definitely.
Rating:
Summary: Worth its weight in gold
Review: I own the third edition of this book, and bought it when I was starting to write a web-based decision support system for a very large beverage company. I can safely say that this book, and the HTML Definitive Guide (also by O'Reilly) were critical to the success of the system. I have seldom had a question about JavaScript for which I could not find the answer in this book. I referred to it so frequently during the development of our system that it is now the most dog-eared book in my collection. I'm going to order the fourth edition simply because this baby is ready for retirement. If you are learning client-side JavaScript, by all means purchase this book. The first half of the book is a guided introduction to the language and does a wonderful job of explaining the syntax of the language, the underlying object model, and virtually every pertinent feature of the language. The real value, though, is in the reference, which documents every object, method, property and event of standard JavaScript. Non-conformists who wish to exploit features unique to Internet Explorer will find some reference material here, but the book does try to focus on the "standard" features of the language, which I think is a good thing. You just can't go wrong with this book.
Rating:
Summary: THE Javascript book for computer programmers!
Review: All Javascript books I've seen are aimed at beginners. This is the only one that gets your hands dirty with true blue computer science. No other book on JS is going to tell you the language uses prototype-based inheritence instead of class-based inheritence; in fact Javascript has a lot of similarities to the LambdaMOO scripting language, and I suspect the latter influenced Netscape engineers. With this book I've learned how to visit all objects in the document tree and print out the source code for the event handlers. No "Dummies" or "21 Days" books are going to give you the theoretical grounding to do that! If you have an interest in computer languages in addition to having a need to script your browser, this book is for you. It has a great reference section for looking up language features and the various Window objects as well. If you want to build complex Web applications that use a lot of client side Javascript, this book will open new possiblities to you. If you still own the Second Edition you owe it to yourself to buy a replacement; this Third Edition is a far superior book.
Rating:
Summary: Must have for learning and reference
Review: As a long time C++ programmer, I found this book to be neither too hard or too easy. Readers with no programming experience at all might have a harder time with the text, but if you have any kind of programming background, the text will serve you well. As a reference, the text is second to none. Even the DOM reference is one of the best out there.
Rating:
Summary: This book has to be better
Review: Reading this book will help you to understand what javascript is and how to use it. Most of all the different concepts of Javascript are explained with examples. That's I rate it 3 stars. But 40% of the interesting examples are not working properly(the most of time seeking where the fault in the given example is). This book is half worth its money, thus I'm half satisfied, and I'm keeping looking for beter book. For beginners this book is not yours.
Rating:
Summary: The classic reference guide...
Review: If you can only afford to get one book to help you with JavaScript coding, this would be the one to consider... This book is a good mixture between raw reference material (Parts 3 - 6) and explanatory material to tell you how it all works together (Parts 1 - 2). While I don't think I'd want to try and learn JavaScript from scratch using this book, I'd definitely want it once I had learned how to do the basics. If you are learning JavaScript for the first time, perhaps O'Reilly's book Designing With JavaScript might be a good introduction into the topic. Parts 1 and 2, while they look similar, present a complete look at JavaScript as used in web browsers. Part 1 tells you the how the language works, while part 2 tells you how it works within the framework of the web browser. Unless you understand how to manipulate the object model of the browser, you won't be able to harness the full value and power the JavaScript language in your web pages. The reference sections of the book will quickly become bookmarked and dog-eared as you move forward. For each reference item, you have the method/property, a brief one line description, the earliest language level where it is first supported, whether it is deprecated or not, a synopsis of the syntax, the arguments to the method, a description of the method/property, an example (if applicable), any known bugs in the method/property, and a reference to any similar methods/properties that may relate to the item. Needless to say, a VERY complete set of information that you will come to rely on. For a Notes/Domino developer, you will need a reference manual such as this. None of the Lotus/IBM documentation will cover the full depth of the language. This book will serve you well as you implement web applications with Domino. I would also suggest a book called Domino 5 Web Programming With XML, Java, and JavaScript by Randall Tamura. It will fill in some of the gaps as to how the DOM is implemented by Domino. Conclusion
There's a reason why this book is in the fourth edition spanning 1996 through 2002. It gives you all the information you need to be effective with JavaScript. I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Best Javascript Book
Review: This is the best book on Javascript. If you are doing serious amounts of Javascript on the front end, or in some scripting environment, this is worth getting. If you are doing something small, like data validation, you can probably get by with the Dynamic HTML book instead. I gave it five stars because it is such an excellent book on Javascript alone.
Rating:
Summary: Definitve Guide is a modest description
Review: The O'Reilly books, for the most part, are some of the best written. But this book in particular, is an essential for any web developer or programmer and in my opinion, the best book ever written on Javascript. This book covers a massive range of material in the Javascript language using realistic examples and clear explanations. It can be used both as a learning tool and an important resource which I refer back to often for my Javascript needs. Items I found to be especially useful about this book were the Appendix areas, the way that just about any term is included in the index, and the listings of implicit objects with their properties, methods,arguments, and the accompanying explanations and examples. The book also incorporates how to concatenate JS with Java and with HTML for forms validation, one of the most important uses of the language. Definitely a true treasure amongst a sea of programming books! Val Fahey
E-Commerce Analyst
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