Rating:  Summary: Cheap and useful Review: This is not a textbook but rather a "how to do" manual for those who know Javascript but don't have time for careful implementation. Easy to read, visually excellent, very useful. However, you might have some problems viewing the examples with older browsers (as Navigator 3). Stil this is the book for continuing use. When traveling I found that this was the only book that was useful to carry around. No CD here and that is a small minus - but look at the price!
Rating:  Summary: Excellent for both beginners and experts. Review: I found this book to be an excellent source of manual type info, when you know what you want but need a little help with syntax, etc, as well as an excellent learning source. It doesn't get into the basics real deeply, so if you're just starting you'll need a more comprehensive text to help you -- beyond that, this book can stand alone as either a teaching text or manual.
Rating:  Summary: Very Good Review: Incredibe Book for begginers. Not so good for advanced
Rating:  Summary: This is the best book for beginning JavaScript programmers! Review: I've read this book and now I can write JavaScript just like thr pros! The authors provide simple, easy-to-understand text. No nerd terms.The say that they are computer nerds so that you don't have to.
Rating:  Summary: Practical and Understandable Reference Review: If you want to learn to apply JavaScript quickly, this is the book for you. The authors provide clear, concise explanations in an easy-to-read format. Non-programmers will find this book a God-send! I continue to use it as a reference (along with JavaScript The Definitive Guide by O'Reilly and Assoc.) on nearly every project. I agree with the previous reviewer that you should have both the first and second editions because they both contain valuable information!
Rating:  Summary: Second Edition Mo' Like Part Deux Review: A while back I purchased the first edition of this book. I found it useful for having legends on event handlers, operators, etc. These are some of the features that Nick Heinle's Designing with JavaScript was missing. Then I purchased this version book. I found it was a totally new book. This version is written *much* better than the first version. However, if you are considering buying 2nd Edition, get the first edition. While using both books I've re-written 2 scripts I jacked (ebonics translation: copied) from other websites. I think second edition is misleading. Its more like part deux.
Rating:  Summary: An accessible, well designed quickstart guide. Get it! Review: There are a gazillion books on JavaScript and short tutorials, etc. in various books about the Web, but "JavaScript for the WWW (Visual Quickstart Guide)" just jumped right out of the crowd, and I knew it was the right book for me. I think I have a pretty good sense of usability, and I know that my gut feeling about books is generally right on. This one is excellent!! I'm not much for programming and scripting, although I have done it (FORTRAN and Basic, some years ago), and I do understand the concepts for object oriented programming (I designed the documentation for Microsoft's C/C++ 7.0). The layout of this book, with it's two equal mirrored columns (on facing pages); one for graphics and one for text, is my favorite design for a Quickstart Guide. I'm not intimidated by the idea of scripting with JavaScript, now that I have this book. I've even taken to reading it in the bathtub, a sacred rite, usually reserved for novels by Walker Percy, etc. I've been designing software documentation for about 8 years, a good portion of that at Microsoft (Windows 3.0, MS-DOS 5, networks, Multimedia Development Kit, etc); over 100 books for more than 25 products. Tech Docs R Us! I've never written to anyone, telling them how much I like their books, but I had to write Tom and Dori. There's so much garbage out there that a good technical doc deserves a good review. This book gets 5 mice and a hardy hand clasp. My own learning style tends toward experimentation: I'll read a part of a manual that seems interesting, even if it's in the middle of the book someplace, then try it out on my Mac, make mistakes and go back and reference the text again, and give it another try. The design of this book allows me to do this easily, and I really appreciate that. I learned how to use the first versions of PageMaker and FreeHand by scanning the manuals while riding BART between Berkeley and San Francisco every day. Wading through walls of text, with a token graphic thrown in here and there, is not my idea of a good time. This book does it right. The numbered procedure lists, only a couple levels of heads, a simple check mark and bullets to indicate tips, usable bleed tabs and an excellent index makes it very easy to scan. I love it! If you're a Web designer and you'd like to add some true interactivity to your work, but you're a "script-o-phobe" like me, get "JavaScript for the World Wide Web (Visual Quickstart Guide) 2nd Edition." The only thing I'd change about this book, is the length of the title... Gary Bastoky
Rating:  Summary: This is the book to read first Review: If you know basic HTML, and want to get a start on JavaScript, this is absolutely the best book to get. It leads you gently through the basics, providing lots of useful and thoroughly explained example scripts. I've used this book to teach non-programmers, humanities students who were building web pages for their classes, and it really works. Smith and Negrino are not just good programmers, they're good writers and teachers, and they keep the companion web site up to date. Their book is a fabulous foundation for JavaScript, and you can start using JavaScript almost immediately, even if you only use their example scripts. They're also unusual, as JavaScript book authors, in that they teach good scripting habits, as well as the usual nuts and bolts.
Rating:  Summary: Blast From the Past Review: Most books on JavaScript are packed with examples of how to do several simple tasks. Kinda like a cookbook; you can make several different individual items, but there's very little or no guidance at all on how to make a nice dinner or meal made up of several items that blend nicely. Or, more importantly, no explanation of *why* certain items should go together and others should not. An average teacher shows you "how" to do it; a great teacher tells you "why" it's done that way. "JavaScript For The World Wide Web" tells you "why" JavaScript works the way it does, and points you to several web sites that further clearly explain it's finer points. The examples are very informative and cover a wide range of situations and techniques. Each chapter is full of easy to understand examples, and the appendix that covers the JavaScript object table is a gold mine all by itself. The best part about this book is that you are shown how to write cross-broswer compliant JavaScript that isn't huge and confusing. This book is so important to me that I keep it next to my PC, right beside my O'Reilly JavaScript book (the one with the rhino on the cover). If you have never programmed a line of code in your life, this book will help get you started. Don't be afraid of writing code that won't work; there's lots of places on the WWW that are full of experienced programmers willing to help. This book is great place to start. :)
Rating:  Summary: Great for newbies and seasoned pros Review: I will never need to buy another JavaScript book. This book covers all the basics and provides understandable examples with explanations. It also provides full program examples such as building a slide show and random images. There is an easy-to-follow object flowchart to help you remember the order objects are called as well as a list of reserved words. The comprehensive index also makes it easy to access information on a specific subject -- whether you are new to JavaScript or you use it for a living. Great learning and reference tool.
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