Rating: 
Summary: Beginners BEWARE!!!
Review: Do not buy this book if you are not already a programmer - as it will only discourage you. This book throws around programming terms and constant C and C++ references, as if the author wanted to show you that he is a 'real' programmer, and that this javascript thing is just a hobby for him. I don't have a grudge against O'Reilly - I realize that many people consider this to be the de facto standard javascript book - but if you are a web-designer that comes from a non-programming background as I do, this book will be useless to you.
Rating: 
Summary: Good first book on Javascript + great reference section
Review: This was my first book on Javascript and I think I got pretty lucky. I purchased the 3rd edition which covers up to version 1.2 of Javascript. However, we up to version 1.4 of Javascript (this may change tomorrow!) so this book lacks coverage of some of the latest features.That said, it is a well-paced introduction to Javascript and, in contrast to some reviewers, I found it easy to follow. The examples are appropriate for the introductory level of the book. Some parts are better than others. For example, the chapters on constructor functions and object prototypes does a poor job of explaining the advantages of one over the other. On the other hand the coverage of the String and Date objects was excellent and indirectly explained much of the philosophy of the language. The reference section is superb -- there are many books in my library that would be much improved by such a reference section. This is the book I reach for when trying to remember the differences between slice, substr, and substring. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is that it is more than a year old now and starting to look dated. It's high time O'Reilly published a 4th edition.
Rating: 
Summary: Outdated indeed!
Review: Nice book, but definitely behind the times. IE5.5 goes way beyond what's here and due to AOL and Microsoft's hard work no other browser currently matters to real developers any more (even the last of the original Netscape developers conceded the browser wars quite some time ago). For a better reference try href=http://msdn.microsoft.com/workshop/
Rating:
Summary: Hard core Javascript theory.....at last.
Review: After trying to learn javascript from the visual series "javascript for the world wide web, 3rd ed" (and being thoroughly disappointed), I finally have found a book that describes the fundamentals of the javascript language in detail. This book explains from an academic perspective the rules, usage, and syntax of javascript. It leads the reader into the depths of how javascript implements an object-oriented paradigm without getting too esoteric. It can be difficult reading at times, but the true nature of javascript programming is not that of a simple little scripting language as some would have you believe. The coding examples could have been better, with more full-sized scripts showing the language in action instead of the numerous 1-4 line code snipets. The one big distraction I noticed was the seemingly constant references to netscape navigator, and all the bugs present in older versions of that browser. Unfortunately, this dated the book and tended to highlight a bias when the author would have been better off staying with the academic focus. Even still, the majority of the theory is unaffected by nav or ie, and the reference section is essential for any serious javascript developer. It is noted that this book was copyright 1998, so "cutting edge" javascript extensions will not be included, but the fundamental theory behind the language remains intact. With the combination of this book (theory and reference) and the visual series book (cutesy web page tricks), I can finally get on with the task of finishing my web site.
Rating:
Summary: Not good for beginner!!!
Review: This book is not for beginners. If you try to learn JavaScript from scratch, this is not the book for you.Try others. I only have little knowledge of JavaScript, I can not understand what this book try to convey. Lengthy description without good examples. It tells you a lot of things you don't need to know.The author likes to compare C/C++/CGI.. in this book in order to illustrate something I don't even care. Those readers who gave five stars to this book have already have great knowledge of JavaScript before they read this book (they forgot to mention that to you) or they are just genius. The only thing I find it useful is the reference.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Reference section, but TERRIBLE examples
Review: In my opinion, an example should serve to illustrate a conceptthat's just been presented. This book, however, frequently uses examples to introduce new information while provide little supplemental help to make sense of this new info. This makes for a very frustrating learning experience!...
Rating: 
Summary: THE BEST STUFF ON JAVASCRIPT !
Review: Though I didn't need to learn JavaScript for my job, I was curious to know how it looks like... This book is excellent. You can learn very quickly how to write simple programs with web-page interface (especially if you have already a knowledge of C/C++ and HTML languages). Everything is thoroughly detailed and very well explained. It's also the ultimate reference book for a confirmed JavaScript programmer. O'Reilly computing books are definitively the best.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good, Probably Great for C/C++/Java Programmer
Review: An overall good book. The reference section is the strongest point, however the though of simply reading a reference section is terrifying. If you already know one of the languages, or are familiar with Object oriented Programming, this is very probably the book for you. If you have not programmed before, do a little online reading, then try this book. if your willing to put the time in, you will learn a lot. Before reading this I knew HTML, and had read some online tutorials of JavaScript, which classifies me somewhere outside the realm of programmer. The first 11 chapters were rather abstract and somewhat confusing, and would have been moreso if i had not already read up a little. But then it started making sense. you don't really learn how to write any script for real until about chapter 12, but then it really starts making sense. I had to read the beginning again after finishing the book, but now I feel like I have a firm handle on the topic. Throughout the book many (many) referneces are made to the similarities and ifferences between JScript and C/C++/Java. There is an entire chapter devouted to java and Jscript working together.
Rating:
Summary: So weak and yet so strong
Review: Yes, this book does not focus on IE well and it should have more examples. The conceptual part is also weak and some of the treatment is too long. Yet it is the best Javascript book you can find in the market and the one where you will most of the answers. The more you use it, the more you will learn to appreciate it. If you do Javascript, you must simply have this book.
Rating:
Summary: Very thorough, detailed, and complete
Review: This book contains just about every obscure detail about JavaScript that you could possibly want. From its history, syntax, structure, operators, object hierarchy, methods, properties, etc..This book has what you're looking for. All of the tools available to you in order to spice up your webpages are thoroughly documented in this book. Once you go through this book, you'll know the ins and outs of anything related to client-side JavaScript. However, I wouldn't recommend this book to the absolute newcomer to JavaScript, especially one with no prior programming experience. Try something like JavaScript Goodies as an introduction. Once you're ready for all the nitty gritty details and to learn about JavaScript's complete (client-side) capabilities, this is what you're looking for. And of course, if you're interested in learning JavaScript, you should be comfortable with HTML.
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