Rating: 
Summary: A good starting point
Review: This book won't teach you "everything you need to know", but it's a good starting point and it's inexpensive. The sample code is well set up - you can see the JavaScript with the surrounding HTML (the JavaScript is in red type, HTML is in black, so it's easy to spot) - much easier to understand what is going on when you can see both together. Too many other books show "snippets" of code in isloation and get you confused easily. Again - this book isn't the "JavaScript Bible from A-to-Z", but it doesn't pretend to be. It's a good buy.
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Summary: It's so easy to read and simple to learn
Review: My first javascript embeded html had completed on the 2nd day when I recieved this book. The enriched contents were more than it's simple size. It is a great starting guide.
Rating: 
Summary: least intimidating intro but leaves one yearning for more
Review: Each chapter describes a certain aspect of the language to include code snippets to illustrate the main points being taught...its a great jumpstart into javascript, but once one gets proficient with the language, i find i hardly use it as it is insufficient as a reference manual and doesn't delve deeply into the strategies for constructing web applications via javascript.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent primer: clear, concise useful examples.
Review: Not as thorough as the big chunky books i've seen gotten and read.. but this one made it simple and gave me the simple tips to what i wanted to know (rollovers, status line, window & frame mgmt, etc.) good starting book for those curious and in the know as a refreshingly clean read.
Rating: 
Summary: Long on examples, short on substance
Review: Unlike Peach Pit's excellent HTML introduction by Elizabeth Castro, this book is superficial and not useful for programming. The book provides numerous examples of what can be done with JavaScript, but the explanations are weak and incomplete. (Example: The authors provide an example of how to pass parameters for controlling the appearance and features of a new window, but don't explain the crucial fact that Navigator's version of JavaScript doesn't allow spaces between parameters. This cost me several hours figuring this one out, since IE4 handled this just fine, only Navigator had the problem.) Also, their online examples are a great idea, but the numbered examples don't always correspond with the examples in the book. More attention to detail--and more depth--would make this a more usable book. Given the complexity of the topic, it may not be possible to do a book in the same style as Castro's HTML book. I'd recommend Danny Goodman's JavaScript Bible instead, despite its greater price.
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Summary: You will quickly outgrow this book
Review: Don't bother with this book, but go right to the O'Reilly book unless you are just toying with JavaScript. You will probably have to buy the O'Reilly anyway...
Rating:
Summary: Decent companion book
Review: I'm a beginner to programming and was looking for a good entry into Javascript. This book has served me well insofar as it contains numerous practical examples of how to employ Javascript within web pages. On the other hand, I do have a couple of complaints. The most important is that the text is conceptually shallow. You may learn how to do certain things from Negrino and Smith, but in a deep sense you won't know what you're doing. They don't explain basic OOP concepts such as objects, properties, and methods. So if you want to know *why* their examples work as they do, or if you want to adapt one of their examples to a different environment, you won't find the tools for doing so here. Furthermore, the text is awfully cutesy, in places conspicuously Mac-oriented, and garbled in spots (eg, p. 61). All that said, I think the Negrino and Smith book can serve as a useful companion to a more serious Javascript text, such as Flanagan's _Javascript: The Definitive Gui! de_, which goes quite deeply into the conceptual side of programming but which is quite thin on applications and examples.
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Summary: Wonderful book for learning JavaScript!
Review: This book is an excellent learning tool that teaches by example, allowing you to easily find a particular subject and get results quickly, while also providing enough explanation and background to help an experienced programmer easily learn a new language.
Rating:
Summary: VERY Good book
Review: I got this book at a local computer store as an impulse purchase. I am not a programer, and at one point promised myself that I would never program. Two weeks with this book and I am now writing my own scripts from scratch!
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Summary: Just do it!
Review: If you want to quickly understand the concepts of JavaScript and roll up your sleeve and just get it done, there is no better, clearer or more concise investment you can make. You'll be producing crash-free, quick to download applets in no time at all with this no-nonsense, unintimidating guide
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