Customer Reviews

Instant JavaScript

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(11)

 

 

This is one of those books which probably deserves the * to **** ratings various people give it - it just depends on where they're coming from, in terms of programming background, and what they're trying to accomplish.

For me, this relatively cheap WROX book fit the bill: I had some specific JavaScript problems on a project I was handed at work and I found the solutions here very quickly... faster than I could have with one of those massive tomes of excrutiating detail! But my background is pretty strong in OO and procedural programing, even if I am a JavaScript newbie: I came in with a pretty good idea of what details I was looking for.

Bottom line: I wouldn't recommend this book as a newbie tutorial or something to get started on programming with. But if you have the background and just need to find specific stuff or maybe come up to speed quickly in "another" language, this has an appropriate level of detail and is structured logically enough for you to zero in without excessive hunting.

This book does not display a easy to follow explanation of the language. It breaks it up, without any thorough explanation of each section.

I would not recommend this book for beginners.

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.

This book is exactly what it claims to be --"instant javascript." It details the language well and gives you great insight into uniting javascript with DHTML. Keep in mind javascript is a "scripting language." If you are not a programmer or do not like programming, you shouldn't be looking at this book anyway. Buy an end-user program to accomplish what you want.

As a jr web. developer I needed to learn JS fast and made the mistake of buying this book. After 65 agonizing pages, I gave up and went back to my woefully outdated "Sams Net JS in a week" because it was much easier to follow. The book is poorly written and organised. The examples were vague and without any screen shots to show the expected output, so I tried typing the code in word for word and ran it. This resulted in errors and was a waste of time; You can leave code out in the middle of a book but not on page 15. I have other Wrox books like ASP, and none of them are particularly easy to read but they are usually thorough. This one is neither, avoid it. The ONLY bright spot was the long, detailed RGB color chart in the back, which can be found in many other places.

I'm no computer programmer, but I can crank out some pretty nifty web pages. But, I needed script's to fully use the web. Bought this book, big mistake!! The author doesn't cater to the non-programer. And, IT'S NOT INSTANT!! It's much to technical to fast, with little practical application. I wish I would have picked up the other book now. I just wasted a lot of money.. :(

I bought this book because I wanted to learn JavaScript. Bad move. For an experienced programmer but new at JavaScript, I needed an organized book and had to look elsewhere. This book is incoherent and unorganized. I only realized this when I picked up another book on JavaScript and started to read it and I couldn't put it down since I could actually understand it. Think twice about buying this book.

Having a 4-year background in C++, I was able to use this book to do some nice JavaScript programming. But, without my C++ knowledge this book would have been useless to me. The book skims over too many topics too fast. Right now I use it as a reference, when I need look something real quick. If you are looking for a step by step JavaScript tutorial this isn't it.

While the book itself is well written, there are many examples that are not included in the download computer support files from WROX. Before anyone buys this book, they should go download the free source code from the wrox website. You will notice something is wrong right away, the file is only 28k Large. Very, Very inadequate. Wrox should update these files by inclucing the omitted examples and expanding the samples even at this point. While I have consistently preferred to buy WROX material, I will now be on guard!

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.