Rating: 
Summary: Understanding Javascript
Review: Despite attempting a number of so-called "easy start" books, Tom Negrino and Dori Smith's excellent "JavaScript for the World Wide Web" is the first which has held my interest long enough for me to understand something.Can I pin down why? It's probably a combination of an easy writing style, the order in which topics have been tackled and the clearly-explained worked examples. All of which has moved my own Javascripting from the haphazard to the logical in a very short space of time.
Rating: 
Summary: Highly Disappointed
Review: I don't believe I've ever used a Visual Quickstart guide but I had always heard very positive comments about the series from friends so when the time came for me to get an intro book for JavaScript, I gave this one a try. After 2 weeks, I returned the book because it was virtually useless to me. I had more useful information about JavaScript in my HTML Blackbook than in this book and I've been using my HTML Blackbook as a reference until I find a JavaScript book that I like.
Rating:
Summary: an excellent book to start with
Review: Absolutely great book for someone who wants to start learning javascript. No more of those lengthy books. Personally, I like to get in there and start programming. Early this year I decided to teach my html & javascript, and, well, it just basically took off. Of all the books I've seen, I find the Visual Quickstart series is the best. I have 3 books from the series. Looking forward the next version.
Rating:
Summary: A great little book to get started
Review: This is not the book for the advanced programmer, but if you want a quick jump start, this little book is for you. Examples are explained line by line, and the examples are presented on the same page opposite the text. This is the perfect layout for teaching yourself javascript quickly. If you are a beginner or a newbie to javascript or have limited experience, this book will jump-start you to create your own scripts right away.
Rating:
Summary: this book rocks for the novice javascript learner
Review: I had to take an e-commerce web development class at school, and a basic knowledge of javascript was a prerequisite. I didn't know this until barely a week in advance, so I needed a book that "cut to the chase". It was a pleasant surprise that this tiny book delivered. Using the samples in this "cookbook", I got exactly what I wanted. If you are looking for something for beginners, this book is an excellent choice.
Rating:
Summary: Inadequete Explanation
Review: I bought this book hoping to learn how to write my own JavaScript code in Adobe GoLive. This book did not work out for me. The book consists entirely of examples with inadequete explanations of how JavaScript works. The examples began to become clear only after I studied some of the many tutorials available on the web. I am now working through "The Book of JavaScript" by Dave Thau, a book I heartily recommend. ...
Rating:
Summary: Worst Visual Quickstart Guide
Review: Don't buy this book to learn Javascript. You won't. Peachpit Press to some extent has a reputation of distributing fine books in the Visual Quickstart Guide (VQG) series for novice and intermediate students of programming languages. I should know, I own about fifteen in the serires. This book by Negrino and Smith, however, falls very short of the mark compared with other books in the VQG series (say those by Elizabeth Castro and others). The book lacks step-by-step explanation (with which VQG readers have become familiar) of Javascript structure, commands, do's and don't's, and so on. Instead, it appears to be a poorly organized assortment of their favorite scripts, which are meaningless to the beginner. The design of the appendices is ludricrous. The index is incomplete. I am glad I learned at least some Javascript before buying the book. I bought the book to enhance my beginner's knowledge. If I relied on this book as my first introduction, I would have given up in frustration at the start. Just because someone is an"expert" in a language doesn't mean they can write a book or teach someone else that language. I am just glad I didn't purchase the other VQG written by these authors.
Rating: 
Summary: For the price and the claim, good buy
Review: For the price, you get a well-laid out book of a few popular javascript "scripts". This is not a good book for learning the language. It clarifies "a few" popular scripts for those who cut and paste code. If that's what you want, it's a very good buy.
Rating: 
Summary: Um...this is a Javascript Cookbook
Review: This is basically a compilation of various scripts you could copy in order to emulate their funcionality on your website. And the scripts all work fairly well, for the most part. But don't expect this book to teach you how to create scripts on your own. You won't gain an understanding of what your copied scripts are *actually* doing because this book doesn't really teach you any of the *concepts* of Javascript, only the results of using pre-packaged scripts. I can't even really recommend it as an introduction, since the style of object-oriented programming involved with Javascript is not at all amenable to such a "quick recipe" style of tutorial. I don't really have anything against this type of pedagogical approach...it just doesn't seem to work well with this particular scripting language. It worked great with HTML, but...this is a far cry from a markup language. If you need a quick patch to your site and aren't interested in gaining transferable skills from your work, then go for it. Get the book and copy to your heart's content. Otherwise, go for the O'Reilly publications.
Rating:
Summary: Reference!
Review: This book was excellent. I was reading some of the reviews. I think it is ideal if you want to learn JavaScript. If you want to just copy codes then you need to purchase a Javascript cookbook. I love the quickstart guides and I find these really great quick references. They are easy to read and understand, they speak in my language and cut out what you don't need to bother with. If you have a question this makes finding the answer very quick, real easy, and I know I couldn't live without it!
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