JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide, Second Edition

Rating:
Summary: Best beginner's book!
Review: For someone who wants a beginning book in JavaScript, this is the best book I have come across. (I also have Gosselin's "JavaScript, Third Edition"; the O'Reilly "JavaScript The Definitive Guide"; and the Shelly Cashman series on JavaScript).

My college JavaScript class uses another book (the Gosselin book) as the official textbook of the course. I find I understand everything much better if I read Pollock's chapter(s) first, then go to the Gosselin to read more and do the required exercises.

I'm new to programming and at first, I was struggling in the class. After getting Pollock's book, I've now got an A. Thank you, John Pollock, for a great book!



Rating:
Summary: Great way to learn JavaScript
Review: I have really enjoyed the "Beginner Guide" series that McGraw-Hill has recently begun producing. They serve as a great introduction to various topics, and their newest JavaScript book is no exception. If I were to learn JavaScript all over again, this is the book I would want to have helping me along the way.

This book starts out at the very beginning-it assumes you don't know anything about JavaScript, variables, or functions and goes through what each of those are. After a good introduction into basic programming via JavaScript, there is a thorough discussion on each of the arithmetic and comparison operators in JavaScript. The rest of the book gets into the nitty-gritty of writing web pages with JavaScript by going over conditional statements, event handlers, and the DOM.

Through this discussion, you learn how to use JavaScript with HTML forms, frames, arrays, how to handle various types of data (e.g. string vs. date time), and even learn how to use JavaScript for image rollovers-the most basic of DHTML. Really this book covers the basics. If you go through this book and really understand it, you'll understand the critical skills you'll need to effectively use JavaScript. I would highly recommend this book to someone who doesn't know anything about JavaScript and needs a place to begin.

Rating:
Summary: Great way to learn JavaScript
Review: I have really enjoyed the "Beginner Guide" series that McGraw-Hill has recently begun producing. They serve as a great introduction to various topics, and their newest JavaScript book is no exception. If I were to learn JavaScript all over again, this is the book I would want to have helping me along the way.

This book starts out at the very beginning-it assumes you don't know anything about JavaScript, variables, or functions and goes through what each of those are. After a good introduction into basic programming via JavaScript, there is a thorough discussion on each of the arithmetic and comparison operators in JavaScript. The rest of the book gets into the nitty-gritty of writing web pages with JavaScript by going over conditional statements, event handlers, and the DOM.

Through this discussion, you learn how to use JavaScript with HTML forms, frames, arrays, how to handle various types of data (e.g. string vs. date time), and even learn how to use JavaScript for image rollovers-the most basic of DHTML. Really this book covers the basics. If you go through this book and really understand it, you'll understand the critical skills you'll need to effectively use JavaScript. I would highly recommend this book to someone who doesn't know anything about JavaScript and needs a place to begin.

Rating:
Summary: awesome beginner javascript book
Review: I read and study a lot of different programming languages. After reading the review from others who also bought this book I was convinced this book was for me. I am now halfway done reading and interacting with the book. The author is awesome. He takes you step-by-step in learning JavaScript. After each chapter he has hands-on assignements that build from one chapter to the next.

Rating:
Summary: Superb book for the beginner...
Review: Javascript: A Beginner's Guide is the best book that I have seen for beginners. The book is written like a text book and provides novice programmers with information on basic programmer's terminology, etc. Exercises are provided to help develop programming skills. When I start offering javascript class, this will likely be my choice for a textbook.

As a beginner's book, I give this 10 stars. This is a great book for people completely new to programming. For example, graphics designers without programming experience who want to develop web pages could easily use this book to learn javascript. Experienced programmers, however, may find this book to be too elementary. The author takes several pages to define what a variable is, which may be aggravating to experienced programmers who just want to learn a new language.

Rating:
Summary: A great book for Javascript beginners
Review: This is a very good book, especially for the money. It is what it claims to be, "A Beginner's Guide." Don't look here for advanced javascript (only the last chapter deals with that). I bought this book with little understanding of Javascript. After reading this book, I have the foundational skills I need write Javascript. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: A great book for Javascript beginners
Review: This is a very good book, especially for the money. It is what it claims to be, "A Beginner's Guide." Don't look here for advanced javascript (only the last chapter deals with that). I bought this book with little understanding of Javascript. After reading this book, I have the foundational skills I need write Javascript. Highly recommended!

Rating:
Summary: Good for beginners but...
Review: This may well be a good book to present Java Script to those that have not done any programming in another language and never plan to. However, if (for example) you have any knowledge of C, it will be a dissapointment. This is not because the book assumes no previous programming experience (it does and clearly states this) but it also doesn't take the opportunity to explain the connection between Java Script and other languages, or to explain any logic in the syntax. One example is the (lack of) explanation of why array indexes start with 0 instead of 1. In summary I feel the author has dummed down the material more than is necessary and has lost opportunities to make the language fit into a rational framework.

Rating:
Summary: For those without experience this is a great start.
Review: Web design has gone through major changes over the years and with the addition of JavaScript web pages have so much more excitement to them. After reading this book and working with examples I was able to create basic JavaScript code and add things to the web pages.

The book is an excellent learning tool and easy to follow along with. The title is a Beginner's guide and there could not be a more exact description. The book has the step by step examples and each project has review questions.

The book lacks a cd with any tools or examples, although you can get free files from the internet. In updated version this might be something to add. The book takes you from getting the script in web pages to frames and forms.

If you new to Javascripting or have a need to brush up on some things, than you may want to get a hold of this book. Overall this is by far the best beginner text I have had a chance to work with.