Customer Reviews

JavaScript, A Beginner's Guide, Third Edition (Beginner's Guide (Osborne Mcgraw Hill))

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book based on other reviews. I needed to get a sound understanding of Javascript quickly. I read the entire book, all 16 chapters. I did all the exercises and the tests at the end of each chapter. I found only a couple of very minor typos in the whole book. All of the exercises worked as entered. Although I did some on Safari and some on Firefox. None on Explorer. So, I can't say that every exercise works on every browser but the author does try and point of the things that may present problems on different browsers (that is, IE).

I did say it is a great BASIC book. If you are looking for all the bells and whistles this is not the book for you. This book will provide a great foundation to go on to other things. There are lots of references in this book to more difficult material. As well as two web sites that the author presides over with more material.

My only regret is that the author has not written a second more advanced book. I liked his style.

After struggling to find a good beginner's book on javascript (JS), and after suffering through the Headfirst Javascript book, I've finally found the one that is helping me move along. As the previous reviewer said, it really is a beginner's book. It starts you off with the basics, and moves you along to slightly advanced scripting.

Compared to other JS books out there, this one really holds your hand, and the examples the author gives should give you a good understanding of what the scripts do, before moving on to other codes. Towards the end of each chapter, he gives you review questions to answer. They aren't very difficult, but for someone who has little JS coding, it really does refresh what you just read. All of the answers are provided in the back too.

It's too bad this book wasn't chosen for my JS class, even though it's probably too basic for the instructor to guide the class towards more advanced codes.

I highly recommend this book for those designers out there who haven't had any coding experience like me. Eventually, after reading this book, you should be able to get a good grasp on JS and move on to more advanced books.

So far, I've only used the codes in firefox and IE. Each exercise is pretty basic so that you'll know what the codes do. I haven't found any errors yet, since I'm still digging near the middle of the book.

I have a library of web development books...some are helpful, some are not. I'm currently learning JavaScript in school, so I've been adding JavaScript books to my collection.

I have this book and "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide".

"JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" can be too complex at times, failing to provide clear, simple examples of how to apply the code.

"JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide", on the other hand, does a very nice job of illustrating examples and explaining concepts in layman's terms. While not as extensively complete as "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide", "JavaScript: A Beginner's Guide" ranks high in accessibility and ease of use. The two books compliment each other very well.

I highly recommend any beginner coder add this book to his/her library...it won't give you all of the answers, but at least it will provide valuable guidance in the practical application of JavaScript.

This was an all-in-all, good book. I have a pretty good technical background with my MS in computer science, but pretty new to Web technologies. Therefore, I was looking for a rather simplistic approach to JavaScript since I have NO background in that area. I always shy away from the "...For Dummies" books since I should at least be beyond that stage in technology, but this book is probably below the Dummies books. No programming background would be needed and not even much technical ability. Although I am biased, I have a hard time thinking how anybody would have trouble understanding this book or doing the exercises. A lot of the examples are overly simplistic and silly, but this could suit a non-programmer type well. As for me, ideally I would have liked a book that talked to programmer types more and was a little deeper. But my objectives were reached with this book: understand JavaScript code I run into, and be able to write little scripts to accomplish things I need to on my site. Before the book was finished I actually implemented some of what I learned to actually solve a problem on my site. That is pretty impressive.

I found this book quite disappointing, mostly because the example scripts that he uses are so simplistic as to be nonsensical.

Rather than each example building on the previous examples, to allow the user to create something which actually works at the end of the book, we are left with a series of short "hello world" examples. Here is one script taken from the book:

switch (navigator.appName) {
case "Netscape" : window.alert("Firefox/Netscape is cool."); break;
case "Microsoft Internet Explorer" : window.alert("Internet Explorer is cool."); break;
case "Opera" : window.alert("Opera is cool."); break;
default : window.alert("What browser is this?");
}

In another similarly inane example, he demonstrates the BREAK command by having us write a 1-to-10 loop, and quit when we get to 5. Why would you do that? Neither example is actually useful, and there are far better ways to accomplish the same thing in Javascript.

I get that he's demonstrating how each command works, but there are much better ways to do this, namely using real-world examples. I found that even when I already understood the topic, his descriptions and lame example scripts could be confusing.

This is a real pity, as the book is otherwise very well laid out, with most chapters building logically upon the preceding chapters, and the style is easy to follow. Unfortunately I personally would not recommend this book due to the lameness of the example scripts.

If you're an absolute beginner, like me, you'll find a lot to like about this book. The fact that its pace is slow and methodical helps to avoid the kind of mystique many other authors incorporate into their books. While other books have you manipulating arrays by page 60, this book holds off on more difficult concepts until your fully understand the basics. Arrays, for example, aren't discussed until page 291.

There are two problems you'll encounter: One is that the javascript forum advertised by the author in the book's introduction doesn't exist. In fact, I can't confirm the author exists since I've tried numerous times to contact John Pollock at the two websites he runs. If there's an errata page out there on the web, I'll it seems I'll never know. The second problem is understanding the Step by Step exercises at the end of the chapters. The instructions are vague and hard to follow. Unfortunately, the books does not have a supporting CD with sample code to refer to for solutions, but after Googling for some time, I was able to locate the sample code at McGraw Hill's web site. You may never find it on your own (and McGraw Hill isn't going to help you), so, if Amazon will permit it, I've included the URL here for your reference to the source code:[...]

The book is good. In fact it's better than other "beginner" books I own. Buy it. You won't be disappointed. But beware that this book is a bare bones product and you'll have to be persistent to tease out the education it offers.

This is a good book for the beginner as the title says, you don't need any programming experience to use this book although knowing some basics in any programming language will improve your learning experience, i'd say this is a book from a basic level to a low-medium level.
I gave it 4 stars because i found a couple of drawnbacks, first the examples are pretty much an ideal world examples they are the most basic and obvious uses of the functions, methods, properties, etc. and second there is a lack of exercises to practice what you are learning there are a few (2 or 3 per chapter), but they aren't the kind of exercises that will make your wits work.
The subjects are covered briefly but i won't take this as a fault because this is an introductory level book, so if you are looking for some book to start with javascript this is the book.

I agree with a previous reviewer as the layout of the book is good but the sample example script is useless and something you won't use, like simple alerts, I understand to use these examples in the first couple of chapters but each chapter should build on each other and I would like more complex code, you learn by doing which means seeing code that is practical and can be used on all websites, on chapter 12 he's still using window.alert examples
window.alert is useless!

I'm only on Chapter 4, but this book is very easy to understand. I already knew a little CSS and HTML, so I had some basics but was afraid I wouldn't be able to learn JavaScript on my own. I think this book is perfect for my level.

I bought this book in Kindle format. The book itself is well written and would be easy to follow if Amazon had done a better job of converting it. As it stands now it is somewhat confusing due to typos and bad layout in Kindle, some lines are cut out, others have sections of text that repeat and still others are simply in the wrong place. You can figure out what is wrong and get it straight, but having to do this while trying to concentrate on learning what the book is trying to teach is a deffinate distraction.

Again, the book is well written and is a great starting point for the JavaScript beginner, but I'd get the physical book and not the Kindle download if I had it to do again.

BTW, I have Kindle for PC not the Kindle itself. I was thinking of getting one but so far most of the d/l's I've gotten for it have been riddled with errors. If this is the quality of printed works that Amazon is going to release for their product I don't think I'll get one.