Rating: 
Summary: Great for beginners who want to get good at JavaScript
Review: I haven't looked at many beginners JavaScript books for awhile until this one. I found out on a Thursday that it would be the text book for a class I was to begin teaching on the following Tuesday. Previously I had recommended "Teach Yourself JavaScript 1.3 in 24 Hours" by Michael Moncur to get through the doorway and start using JavaScript. While that's still a fine book, I have to say that I'm really impressed with this one and Pollock's expertise of the subject.This book takes the reader by the hand and speaks in a very mentoring tone. The text asks the right questions to help seal in the knowledge and offers intermediate steps should one like to take them. This is a great book to start off with, and absent the JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman, it makes a fairly decent reference guide.
Rating:
Summary: Great for beginners who want to get good at JavaScript
Review: I haven't looked at many beginners JavaScript books for awhile until this one. I found out on a Thursday that it would be the text book for a class I was to begin teaching on the following Tuesday. Previously I had recommended "Teach Yourself JavaScript 1.3 in 24 Hours" by Michael Moncur to get through the doorway and start using JavaScript. While that's still a fine book, I have to say that I'm really impressed with this one and Pollock's expertise of the subject. This book takes the reader by the hand and speaks in a very mentoring tone. The text asks the right questions to help seal in the knowledge and offers intermediate steps should one like to take them. This is a great book to start off with, and absent the JavaScript Bible by Danny Goodman, it makes a fairly decent reference guide.
Rating:
Summary: I learned a lot and had fun in the process
Review: I knew nothing about javascript when I started this. After working through this book, I feel confident enough to use what I know or to move on to a more advanced book. Thus far, I have really been impressed with the Osborne "Beginner's Guides." They really are for beginners. One more thing, John Pollock puts humor in this book, which I think is great. Computer books can be quite dry, but this one is very readable.
Rating:
Summary: Clear technical writing. The winner.
Review: I own several JavaScript guides (including JavaScript Bible, The Book of JavaScript, and TY JavaScript in 24 Hours), and this one is the winner. Pollock managed to clear up all of the concepts that the other books couldn't. His technical writing is crystal clear and concise; no digging through pages of technical mumbo jumbo. The book takes you from step one, so experienced programmers will probably get bored, but first timers will be counting their blessings. Book has some exercises which are very simple. You will need to practice more to become a competent JavaScripter. Other than that, the only thing the book is lacking is a reference guide of JavaScript commands. I will be looking for more books by Pollock in the future.
Rating:
Summary: The best javascript book I've seen for beginners
Review: I purchased two other books on Javascript before this one, Javascript for the WWW 4th Ed and Teach Yourself Javascript in 24 Hrs. I sat in the bookstore for hours looking closely at titles like The Javascript Bible and Beginning Javascript (the acclaimed Wrox Press version), Javascript for Dummies, etc... What this has that the others lack is a highly accessible index with patient explanations of every operator I have encountered. Javascipt in 24 hrs repeatedly shows example scripts that include keywords and object operators without any explanation of their meaning (anywhere in the book!). You can completely understand everything the author has written and still not be able to follow the example scripts completely. JS for the WWW is really just a cookbook, plain and simple. The JS Bible could be a valuable resource but is very expensive and does not include the gentle introduction available in this book. Have I covered enough of your likely alternatives? This is the book you need because the others will waste your effort.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for javascript beginners!
Review: I was truly impressed with this book. It is well written and in such a manner as that it was actually enjoyable to read! Before this book I tried learning javascript from the "teach yourself in 21 days" book(not to mention VB which I stopped at day 7). By comparison, The Beginner's Guide is a far better instructor. The topics are laid out in a very logical order. I actually read this book cover to cover, and that's a first for me with any programming book. I may go back and re-read the "in 21 days" book to get a new angle on the topics I've already learned.
All the code examples in the book are explained with little description boxes pointing at the code, which I found very helpful. If you're looking for a first book on learning javascript I fully recommend this book!! It truly is a testament to the author that it kept my interest up from cover to cover. I can't believe I actually read an entire programming book. (I'm still amazed by that!)
Rating:
Summary: This beginner's book is terrific
Review: I've never returned to write a review on a book I've purchased but this time I had to. I dabbled in learning javascript for a while from various sources. I even bought another "beginner's guide" book. The result was always confusion, usually because they went too fast without adequate explanation of the concepts. This book, however, is terrific in it's definition of those concepts and the pace and progression at which it introduces new items. The examples are great and it never throws in items that haven't been learned yet. In my opinion, this is the definitive javascript beginner's guide.
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I've purchases a few javascript books for beginners and they've all been difficult to read. Either too boring, too techinical, or starting out in the middle. This book is like taking the javascript course for beginners! If you want to learn Javascript and you can't figure out the for dummies or the visual quickstart go with this book!!
Rating:
Summary: Great book
Review: I've purchases a few javascript books for beginners and they've all been difficult to read. Either too boring, too techinical, or starting out in the middle. This book is like taking the javascript course for beginners! If you want to learn Javascript and you can't figure out the for dummies or the visual quickstart go with this book!!
Rating: 
Summary: Definitely a Beginner's Guide
Review: If you have any experience coding in any language you will find this book too basic and slow to follow. It doesn't include an appendix of java commands so you can pick up its control structures and commands quickly. Didn't like it for what I was trying to do- debugging existing Java code in my website.
| 
