Microsoft JScript.NET

Rating:
Summary: Not what I thought
Review: I was looking for a book about client side scripting. This book is about using JScript with the .NET framework to create server side scripts.

Sorry, but with the invent of C# and VB.NET, I already know how to write server side code. In my opinion, this is just another language to work with the .NET framework, and it is not as good as either C# or VB.NET.

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time learning this language, but the book covers it fairly well.

Rating:
Summary: Microsoft JScript .NET Programming
Review: Justin Rogers has been involved with .NET from the beginning. I recall some of his early contributions to the .NET community when he built a web-server in JScript.NET. His post was followed quickly by a number of developers clamouring to convert his code to C# and then there was the challenge by the Microsoft ASP.NET team to integrate ASP.NET functionality into the result.

Initially, I was surprised that SAMS had published a book on JScript.NET, but I wasn't surprised that Justin Rogers had his name on the cover, perhaps that is the reason why I eventually read it cover to cover. My surprise disappeared when I realised that there is a legacy of code out there written by system administrators and Classic ASP web-developers that chose not to code in VBScript.

The book which has the familiar half blue cover with astrological decorations that many of SAMS .NET titles have seems to be positioned for more accomplished JScript users who are looking to leverage the new capabilities offered by the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR) and the .NET Framework. For those who have to convert large web-sites written in JScript over to .NET I would recommend this book as a starting point.

What disappointed me is that most if not all of the samples don't show their output of the code when run. The unfortunate side effect is that it's much harder to read this book without sitting in front of the JScript.NET compiler to see the effect of the code. Most other books on the market provide some output listings or screenshots so I was very surprised that this one didn't. Other forms of illustration are also sparse, but I had trouble identifying areas where more were needed.

On the up-side, Justin does write very well, and his passion for the language really comes through in the text. While this isn't something that I would normally have on my shelf, I think it does have a small audience for system administrators that need to implement a degree of automation and web-developers porting their legacy JScript server-side code to ASP.NET.

Rating:
Summary: Boring at best, annoying at worst
Review: Microsoft JScript.NET Programming left me disappointed. The book reads like a tiresome rehash of too many JavaScript programming tutorials. Rogers frequently includes coding style tips that programmers are probably already quite familiar with. These distract from the JScript.NET content. The book contains information about some .NET core library classes, including networking and XML. A separate reference on the .NET core library is more useful than this half-hearted coverage.

You may like Microsoft JScript.NET Programming if you only have a very basic grasp of JavaScript/JScript and you don't want to have to learn very much about the .NET core libraries or CLR.