Customer Reviews

JavaScript: Complete Concepts and Techniques, Second Edition (Shelly Cashman)

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I have been working with this book for several weeks now...sorry to say the title is very misleading. "Complete"? Maybe in concept only! The Shelly Cashman Series is usually very good, but the proofreaders were WAY overworked with this one. There are several errors in the tutorials that make it VERY frustrating to use if you are just learning JavaScript. I find the code testy enough without sloppy work on the writer/editors/proof-reader/publishers 's part. I have spent HOURS to get the tutorials to work, in some cases just having to cut bait. Folks at the publishers, take this one home and try it out. I'm tempted to send you back my corrected book with the multiple errors that I have found. Fix the mistakes and try it again. Gentle readers, this one is ONE TO AVOID.

I can usually forgive a few typos in any text, but this one not only has bad indexing, the code they have doesn't even work. Further, the authors are completely MSIE specific and don't bother to mention this minor detail. Save your money. This book is a complete waste of time.

If you have a choice, look for an alternate tutorial level text on Javascript. This book is the required text for my on-line Javscript class, which I have decided to drop because of the errors (ie J2.59 #3 formula) and quantum leaps associated with it's exercises (ie J2.60 C&P #5). I did finally stumble upon the un-advertised 'Errata' website, and discovered the solution to the book's formula mis-print. My on-line instructor had no knowledge of the 'errata' website, and told me that the book was correct. NOT!

I was looking forward to learning Javascript, and to graduating in December. Thanks to this text, both of those goals will have to wait. Thank you Shelly and company!

I like this series of books from Course.com. Because there is a lot of exercises for us to practise. Just reading is not enough especially in your work. After some practise, you can strength your skills and have confidence to tell everyone you have experience on JavaScript. A easy reading book for beginner. But it is not the best. I prefer to Javascript For the World Widw Web. And use this one as practise.

I admit, when first attempting to use this book, I thought it could be a lost cause. I actually fired off a fuming e-mail to the publisher. Surprisingly they were very helpful and pointed me to the Web site that the book refers to. The Web site has a list of corrections to the errors in the book as well as a lot of resources outside of the book that have helped me learn JavaScript. Apparently there is a 2nd edition of this book that is published which some of the students at my school have purchased and have had no problems with it whatsoever. I like the way this book is laid out and it is easy to follow. I just had to get myself over the hump and get some help from the publisher.

This is quite possibly the worst book ever. It might explain the concepts, but you won't understand them. This book is not even worth the paper it is printed on. STAY AWAY FROM THIS ONE! If I could assign negative stars to this book, I would. Learning wise, do yourself a favor and pick up "Sam's Teach Yourself Javascript 1.3 in 24 Hours".

The book covers only few of JavaScript concepts (surely not complete concepts and techniques). What bothers me are many errors. In lesson 3 I could get only rollovers to work properly. The book is too expensive for what it offers.

This book was assigned for my internet course, and I found it very hard to fellow the programming code. They jumped up from no where, and the author did a poor job(or didn't bother) of explaining it. After I read the same project twice, still confused. If you don't know any JavaScript, it is not a good book to begin. I found it only wastes my time and effort, and the money to buy it. Don't choose this book if you have other choice. (I wish the teacher didn't choose this book! It is so frustrating to read it!)

Yes it is a good book for people who do not know java script, just one small problem. NOTHING IN THIS BOOK WORKS! Even with the errata page on their website these solutions do not work. There is no disk with this book and most of the homework assignments do not match the solution in the book so if you do not know html you will be wondering why the homework does not work. Shelly Cashman Series books are normally alright but this book just has too many errors.

There are many complaints about this book, but what people need to realize is that this book was based on someone coding Java on a Windows 95 machine! Page 1.8 shows the program list, with some Win 95 programs. Now that most people are coding on Windows 7, how can this really be relevant? They need an updated version that fits with computers we use today. Page 5.22 shows ancient computers in a shopping cart. I know the basics haven't changed much, but come on: saving on a floppy disk?!