Rating: 
Summary: Absolute and Complete Garbage, I threw it away!!
Review: Being a teacher of JavaScript I can say this is the most incomplete piece of garbage I've laid my eyes on.
Rating:
Summary: A quite terrible book
Review: Definately a good reference if you are a novice to experienced js programmer. This book does make some fatal attempts to instruct the reader on how to program with js but the content of the book is in large a programmers reference and muse. This would not be a wise purchase if you are looking to learn js from scratch, although if you have some other scripting language under your belt you may find it an invaluable companion.
It covers just about everything that is important and unique to js in regards to what it can do on the web. There is some mention of debugging methods and some browser issues are covered but there are far too many to mention in one book. Unfortunaltely this may be js's eventual undoing but for now enjoy it while it's here.
Worth a spot on your shelf.
Rating:
Summary: DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK
Review: I am miserably disappointed with this book. The index in the back was completely useless, and not once did I find what I was looking for in there. I had much better luck just looking on the web. Case in point - the Switch/Case statement was completely not mentioned at all. It is also typical of this book to mention a data type or funciton but not any of the tags or arguments associated with it. Case in point - the section covering window.open function mentions that there is a list of option values that you can set, but not a single example value is given. At least I can use it has a pretty red cover that looks professional on my desk as I am off surfing the web for useful documentation.
Rating: 
Summary: A very useful book for the working programmer
Review: I was new to the entire Internet development arena, so this book helped me a lot. It got me thinking about how JavaScript interrelates to Dynamic HTML. It gives you discussions about the kinds of things that you will have to worry about when you code real web pages. If you have one of the large reference books handy such as the Microsoft Web Technologies Reference, then this book makes a nice companion book to it. I wouldn't trade mine. It solved two of my current project's problems, so it was easily worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Disapointing (e.g. Flow Control was covered in 4 pages)
Review: I've used the "instant" series in the past, and I thought that it was pretty good. However, this book was not very helpful. Case and point: Flow control was covered in 4 pages! Ouch! It was bland, it didn't have enough examples to cary you through. It didn't do good use of it's space. Let me put it this way, out of the 10 chapters, I could say that it had 3 OK chapters, and 7 that I didn't care much about, and I'm a webdeveloper. The 3 chapters that were OK, could've been much better. I'm not quite sure who was the targeted audience, I thought the book made JavaScript more complicated than it really is. I felt that the author wrote down all the concepts in an outline, and then wrote down what he thought was important about each subject, hence no flow.
Rating:
Summary: Only if you already know javascript
Review: If you try to use this as your javascript reference book you will be disappointed over and over! it has a poor index, it is not well organized by topic, it does not cover the DOM, date functions, and other basic javascript topics. if you already know javascript and have a good reference, then you could learn about subtleties, detailed language constructs, browser differences and bugs from this book. but get a better javascript book before you buy this one. It is not as the cover claims, 'a comprehensive tutorial in JavaScript for web developers.'
Rating:
Summary: Misleading.
Review: This book claims to be a tutorial on Javascript for people with knowledge of HTML, but its really more of a referance work. Nothing is explained in detail, the code examples consist of very small fragments that don't fully illustrate the ideas being explained, and basic concepts are overlooked. For instance, the book gives examples of a variety of functions, but never explains or gives an example of how you call them within your HTML code. This is one of the trickier aspects of javascript and its not addressed at all! Very disappointing. Only an experienced Javascript programmer will be able to get much out of it, and only then as a refresher.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite JS book, misleading title
Review: Unless your are a complete beginner, do not let the bad reviews stop you from buying this book. Instant JavaScript can give you great insight into the language. Here is what it is not: a) A step by step cookbook for people who buy "Dummies" or "In 21-15-5 days" brand books. b) A complete reference (if you need that you can get O'reilly book or find a searchable online reference. Remember, Wrox(this book's publisher) motto is "Programmer to Programmer". And this book is truly in this spirit. My favorite chapter is #7, called "Disappearing Data". Reading it is like listening to an experienced JavaScripter explaining all the pitfalls of the language. Chapter 6 - "Privacy, Security and Cookies" was very useful to me too. Just these two chapters make this book worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite JS book, misleading title
Review: Unless your are a complete beginner, do not let the bad reviews stop you from buying this book. Instant JavaScript can give you great insight into the language. Here is what it is not: a) A step by step cookbook for people who buy "Dummies" or "In 21-15-5 days" brand books. b) A complete reference (if you need that you can get O'reilly book or find a searchable online reference. Remember, Wrox(this book's publisher) motto is "Programmer to Programmer". And this book is truly in this spirit. My favorite chapter is #7, called "Disappearing Data". Reading it is like listening to an experienced JavaScripter explaining all the pitfalls of the language. Chapter 6 - "Privacy, Security and Cookies" was very useful to me too. Just these two chapters make this book worth buying.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book on Javascript for PROGRAMMERS
Review: Upon purchasing this book I scanned throug most alternatives. They were often too heavy too trivial and too narrow. This was the only book that offered a clear and consice guide of Javascript and how it interacts with HTML, DHTML, Document Object and running server based programs. This is cruicial as Javascript is a language run in conjunction with all of these. The writing style is easy to follow and the auther is very organized presenting the concepts in a through way. In contrast to the other books on the market it is a) to the point b) covers most the technologies used in conjuction with javascript c) great as reference. The drawbacks with the book are: - Shouldn't be used by NON PROGRAMMERS. Less emphasise is put on examples as on theory and understanding. - It is a bit old, should be updated - Would like more information on XML.
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