Rating: 
Summary: Great book for entry level JS coders
Review: As someone experienced in design and layout using XHTML and CSS I purchased Beginning JavaScript (Paul Wilton, Wrox Press) thinking it would be a good place to start as I've had great experience with Wrox books in the past. Two chapters later I purchased this book knowing I needed something a little more basic and I found exactley what I was looking for. JS: A Beginner's Guide assumes a basic (at best) knowledge of HTML but other than that is extremely elementary with excellent examples, a great layout (from a progression standpoint), and continual reinforcement of previously covered standards throughout the book.
To truely absorve this book it is imperitave that the reader (like most other programming books) work through each and every example. For those who have the time to sit down and read this book at their computer (instead of on the couch) it will provide a great entry level knowledge to the topic. For those looking to pursue the matter I would still recommend Beginning JavaScript (Paul Wilton) AFTER reading this book. Some of the same standards will be covered however I am all about applying multiple resources to fully grasp an idea.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear and easy to understand
Review: Clear and easy to understand
This is one of the clearest and concise books I have every read. Talks to the reader as a person not a rocket scientist. five stars!
Rating:
Summary: Finally, a book that actually helps!
Review: Finally,a user-friendly book for beginners. This is an excellent aid for computer science students who need extra help. Extremely helpful for the beginning Javascript programmer.
Rating:
Summary: Good "Classroom" Type of Book...
Review: For someone, like myself, who had just started learning JavaScript, this book was an excellent foundation...Even though, a couple of the introductory chapters (e.g. chapter on functions) use some REALLY ridiculously long examples/methods to achieve a simple task as writing text into the <body> section of the page or popping up a message window; Pollock does, however, eventually put them into "real-world" use in the later chapters... If you can overcome some of these few 'what-duh' chapters, this book will be your top tool to getting started scripting like a pro'
Rating:
Summary: Best teaching methods of any computer book
Review: I agree with the first two reviewers: this is one of the BEST TUTORIALS EVER for an introduction to a programming language/script. Here's why. (1) The order of introduction to topics is logical; (2) The English is perfect and understandable; (3) The code is illuminated with the call-outs you need; (4) The variable names chosen are never cryptic or confusing --- Pollock gets an A++ for this accomplishment alone; (5) Screen shots are cropped so you see only what you need to see; (6) The topics covered are truly useful. I, too, had purchased other JavaScript books and quick guides. I'm not going to criticize them, because they are useful on occasion, but THIS is the book I really learned JavaScript from. Don't let the fact that there isn't a CD keep you from buying this. You can download plenty of JavaScript samples from the Internet, and none of the scripts is so long you will have trouble typing it. Buy this book, start at page 1 and read straight through. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for javascript beginners!
Review: I bought this book and was so surprised. it is definitely one of the easiest books I have ever read before. It is very straight forward. ABC. Its makes doing Javascipt as easy as writing HTML. Of course I must say that I have had prior programming exprience with C++ nonetheless I think that it is very simple. It assumes you only know HTML (some anyway). It doesn't have much practical use in terms of teaching you how to do a lot of complex programming. If that is what you are looking for this may not be the book. This is the first step. Learning how to integrate Javascript into your HTML pages. If you have never done Javascript programming you will probably find this book fast, simple and useful. With a C++ backgound, i'm able to go through a chapter a day. After reading it you will be prepared to go on to more indepth books. Oh, and the author provides a good newsgroup that you can use to post questions about your javascript. It may come in handy for a good knowledge base. I had other books but they didn't start you off learning how to place Javascript into your html pages. So to actually find what i needed to take my first steps, this book was more than i expected in ease. I think for that purpose (the audience it was written for) it can easily get 5 stars. No doubt!
Rating:
Summary: Very Easy book for a beginner
Review: I bought this book and was so surprised. it is definitely one of the easiest books I have ever read before. It is very straight forward. ABC. Its makes doing Javascipt as easy as writing HTML. Of course I must say that I have had prior programming exprience with C++ nonetheless I think that it is very simple. It assumes you only know HTML (some anyway). It doesn't have much practical use in terms of teaching you how to do a lot of complex programming. If that is what you are looking for this may not be the book. This is the first step. Learning how to integrate Javascript into your HTML pages. If you have never done Javascript programming you will probably find this book fast, simple and useful. With a C++ backgound, i'm able to go through a chapter a day. After reading it you will be prepared to go on to more indepth books. Oh, and the author provides a good newsgroup that you can use to post questions about your javascript. It may come in handy for a good knowledge base. I had other books but they didn't start you off learning how to place Javascript into your html pages. So to actually find what i needed to take my first steps, this book was more than i expected in ease. I think for that purpose (the audience it was written for) it can easily get 5 stars. No doubt!
Rating:
Summary: You *will* learn Javascript with this book!
Review: I commend John Pollock for the tremendous job he did with this book. Indeed this is a magnificent book on Javascript. He covers the Javascript language thoroughly taking you from a-z. If you know nothing about Javascript and want to learn it in a clear cut efficient manner, this is the book to buy! It isn't a book of javascript goodies and silly examples. It teaches you basically all aspects of the language through clear explanations and precise examples so that you will be able to recognize and write your own script. There is an example presented to the reader for almost every detail discussed. John Pollock explains to his readers what javascript is and how to implement their own scripts. One of the great things I think he does for his readers is that he introduces "Functions" very early in the book and dedicates an entire chapter on just Functions and how to create them. Functions are essential to this language and he doesn't make the mistake of skimming over this important topic. He also saves the discussion of Arrays, Math and Date objects in the latter sections, unlike many other books that just mix and throw all the advanced & basic syntax in the first chapter and move on to advanced examples of code in next chapters before you truly grasp and are comfortable with implementation of the syntax. This methodology is part of what makes the book so powerful and effective to the javascript learner, especially the beginner! You will be able to really write the script projects at the end of each chapter yourself. He also has a section for advanced topics for folks who want to delve in some more. Expect great coverage of the language and concise explanations. The author really does his job with this book in that he doesn't simply present bits and pieces to you. He will truly teach you how to write Javascript.
Rating:
Summary: Better than others
Review: I had waited a while to actually come up with a book that i can speak about, and i must say that i found this one to be far more respectible than some of the other books i have read. It is often times difficult to know which reviews to really follow because you are never really sure of the mental health/quality of those who come up with the reviews. Seems like the prism of subjectivity is a difficult barrier to transcend. Very few people can honesty speak with authority, and objectivity in their criticisms of another. At any rate, there are 2 books that i have actually bought on the subject of Ja--Script (aka Javascript), and out of the 2, this one by John Pollock was far more "clean-cut" with regards to its presentation of the subject matter than "JavaScript for the World Wide Web" by Tom Degrino, and Dori Smith. In terms of examples, and brief explanations, the aforementioned wasn't bad, but in terms of explanatory breadthe, and in terms of depth, and in terms of interconnectivity between one chapter and another, the book was lacking. Additonally, this book (the one by Tom, and Dori)took up an aweful lot of space in including HTML tags when it presented a coded page example that i thought was stupid. For me, if a person already knows what a tag is, and they have in fact created Tables, then there was really no point to including an actual webpage code (in its entirety) so that a person knows the difference between the head section, and body section of a document. For me, if you really need the over-board use of illustratives idiagrams to make a point about how you can make a reference "call" between the body portion of a document, and the head portion, then seriously speaking, you need to learn HTML first before you get into Ja--Scripting. This too me was wasted typing space for a much more relevant inclusions of the subject matter. For this reason, i found John Pollocks book by far more commanding of my respect. And this for the record is not to say that for whatever reasons there is not always an inclusion of an actual webpage code in it's entirity. Johns Book did include tags for contextualisation purposes, but still, it was not as bad the other book. This doesn't really make sense to me. Or at least, not totally. There is only a few things one needs to know that is of major importance, and that is the <script> and </script> tags, and how to make a reference to an external file. And to be honest, all you would need is a few pages that explains how the tags are created, and where they are created. But over and beyond this, i find the excess use of HTML tags in an example about a different language annoying. This is like calling a book "BaseBall Basics," but half the book is filled up with concepts that relate to FootBall. If there is going to be inclusion of more than one subject specifically, then use a different title. Otherwise stick with the name of the title. But over all, John Pollocks book so far was the better of the 2. If we are to speak of flaws, i would say that the primary flaw of the book was it's lack of interconnection between chapters. Don't get me wrong, as far as learning the name of rules, and syntical symbols of the language, the book was great. However, most of the subjects discussed in what he called "modules" instead of "chapters" did not really build on one another. These chapters for the most part were isolated concepts and did not necessarily interconnected them, so that you can see how a whole system of these concepts can build some rather impressive effects that are not achievable with HTML. The general feel of the book was really grammatical, and analogically referencial rather than an actual collection of class study examples that hammer down the main concepts of the programming language known as JavaScript. But over, and beyond this, i found the book far more effective in geting its lessons accross than the other book mentioned. The key to the book is its title. It is geared towards an introduction into this language, and not necessarily towards those more interested in higher levels of programming skills. For this reason i think the book will fall short of really showing thorough examples of the over all power of this programming language. But if you want to practise in a bath tub before you jump into the ocean for a marathon of some sort, this is a great book for that. It really does a great job at discussing the alphabet of the language. But it doesnt really get you to reading at a decent level. This is my analogy for how this book should be viewed: This book is great if you don't want to be thrown to the sharks. I have not read any of the books by Danny Goodman, but from what i have ran into on amazons linking adventures, he seems to be a popular author with DHTML, and Ja--Script. His books presumably are college level rather than kindergarten in the sense that all you are learning are the A,B,Cs of things. I will have to reread John Pollocks book again, before i jump onto the Bible series of this language.
Rating:
Summary: Better than others
Review: I had waited a while to actually come up with a book that i can speak about, and i must say that i found this one to be far more respectible than some of the other books i have read. It is often times difficult to know which reviews to really follow because you are never really sure of the mental health/quality of those who come up with the reviews. Seems like the prism of subjectivity is a difficult barrier to transcend. Very few people can honesty speak with authority, and objectivity in their criticisms of another. At any rate, there are 2 books that i have actually bought on the subject of Ja--Script (aka Javascript), and out of the 2, this one by John Pollock was far more "clean-cut" with regards to its presentation of the subject matter than "JavaScript for the World Wide Web" by Tom Degrino, and Dori Smith. In terms of examples, and brief explanations, the aforementioned wasn't bad, but in terms of explanatory breadthe, and in terms of depth, and in terms of interconnectivity between one chapter and another, the book was lacking. Additonally, this book (the one by Tom, and Dori)took up an aweful lot of space in including HTML tags when it presented a coded page example that i thought was stupid. For me, if a person already knows what a tag is, and they have in fact created Tables, then there was really no point to including an actual webpage code (in its entirety) so that a person knows the difference between the head section, and body section of a document. For me, if you really need the over-board use of illustratives idiagrams to make a point about how you can make a reference "call" between the body portion of a document, and the head portion, then seriously speaking, you need to learn HTML first before you get into Ja--Scripting. This too me was wasted typing space for a much more relevant inclusions of the subject matter. For this reason, i found John Pollocks book by far more commanding of my respect. And this for the record is not to say that for whatever reasons there is not always an inclusion of an actual webpage code in it's entirity. Johns Book did include tags for contextualisation purposes, but still, it was not as bad the other book. This doesn't really make sense to me. Or at least, not totally. There is only a few things one needs to know that is of major importance, and that is the tags, and how to make a reference to an external file. And to be honest, all you would need is a few pages that explains how the tags are created, and where they are created. But over and beyond this, i find the excess use of HTML tags in an example about a different language annoying. This is like calling a book "BaseBall Basics," but half the book is filled up with concepts that relate to FootBall. If there is going to be inclusion of more than one subject specifically, then use a different title. Otherwise stick with the name of the title. But over all, John Pollocks book so far was the better of the 2. If we are to speak of flaws, i would say that the primary flaw of the book was it's lack of interconnection between chapters. Don't get me wrong, as far as learning the name of rules, and syntical symbols of the language, the book was great. However, most of the subjects discussed in what he called "modules" instead of "chapters" did not really build on one another. These chapters for the most part were isolated concepts and did not necessarily interconnected them, so that you can see how a whole system of these concepts can build some rather impressive effects that are not achievable with HTML. The general feel of the book was really grammatical, and analogically referencial rather than an actual collection of class study examples that hammer down the main concepts of the programming language known as JavaScript. But over, and beyond this, i found the book far more effective in geting its lessons accross than the other book mentioned. The key to the book is its title. It is geared towards an introduction into this language, and not necessarily towards those more interested in higher levels of programming skills. For this reason i think the book will fall short of really showing thorough examples of the over all power of this programming language. But if you want to practise in a bath tub before you jump into the ocean for a marathon of some sort, this is a great book for that. It really does a great job at discussing the alphabet of the language. But it doesnt really get you to reading at a decent level. This is my analogy for how this book should be viewed: This book is great if you don't want to be thrown to the sharks. I have not read any of the books by Danny Goodman, but from what i have ran into on amazons linking adventures, he seems to be a popular author with DHTML, and Ja--Script. His books presumably are college level rather than kindergarten in the sense that all you are learning are the A,B,Cs of things. I will have to reread John Pollocks book again, before i jump onto the Bible series of this language.
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