JavaScript: The Complete Reference, Second Edition [Paperback]

Thomas Powell (Author), Fritz Schneider (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2004 | ISBN-10: 0072253576 | ISBN-13: 978-0072253573 | Edition: 2

Create dynamic, interactive Web pages with the latest upgrade to this flexible development tool. Coverage includes event handling, object oriented programming, IE specific content, XML, and sample code that lets you work through projects and provides groundwork for your own creations. Provides information for new and non-professional developers and also more advanced coverage for experienced JS developers who want a comprehensive reference.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

The Definitive JavaScript Resource. Complete coverage of the W3C DOM2 standard

Build dynamic, cross-browser Web pages using JavaScript--the premier client-side scripting language in use today on the Web. First learn the basics of the language, then combine syntax and theory to develop practical applications--create a variety of windows including special dialogs, use the W3C Document Object Model (DOM) 2 to manipulate (X)HTML documents, add sizzle to your pages with special effects, and improve usability. With full coverage of advanced topics such as using embedded objects and remote JavaScript, this is the ultimate resource for beginning and advanced users alike.

• Learn core language features such as data types, objects, and regular expressions
• Manipulate (X)HTML and XML documents using the W3C DOM 2
• Take advantage of the standard event models in DOM 2 for robust event handling
• Control windows and frames with the Windows object
• Validate forms before sending them to server-side programs
• Add dynamic effects to Web pages, such as rollovers and animation
• Extend JavaScript’s capabilities using embedded multimedia objects
• Interact with servers on the Internet using remote JavaScript
• Understand JavaScript security policies
• Troubleshoot and debug your JavaScript programs

Thomas Powell, lecturer for UCSD, is the author of HTML& XHTML: The Complete Reference and Web Design: The Complete Reference. He is president and founder of PINT, a Web site design and development firm. Fritz Schneider is a software engineer at Google who where he works on both client- and server-side Web applications. He is an experienced teacher of Web technologies and co-author of How to Do Everything with Google.

About the Author

Thomas Powell (San Diego, CA) is a well-known author and educator in Web design and development. He is a lecturer for the University of California, San Diego Computer Science Department and the developer of the UCSD Extension Web Publishing Certificate program. He has been teaching classes in JavaScript, HTML, and Web design for more than four years. He is the author of the best-selling HTML: The Complete Reference and Web Design: The Complete Reference. Powell is also the President and founder of PINT (www.pint.com), a Web site design and development firm.

Fritz Schneider (San Diego, CA) is a software engineer with Anonymizer.com. While there he has designed and implemented a variety of Apache modules, written CGI scripts, implemented a Web-based customer email service, and created and maintained a large number of internal and public Web pages. He has been a teaching assistant in Web programming and computer science classes at both UCSD and Columbia University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 976 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Osborne Media; 2 edition (July 14, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072253576
• ISBN-13: 978-0072253573
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #318,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding Javascript Reference, February 22, 2005

By 

K. Martin (Oakland, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JavaScript: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Paperback)

I'm not sure why there are no other reviews of the 2nd edition of this book here, but let me rectify that now. This is an extraordinarily lucid presentation of JavaScript and its related technologies. It certainly deserves the praise it received from other reviewers (see reviews of prior edition). I've only read through chapter 12, but I've learned more from this book than three prior JavaScript texts combined. From coverage of core JavaScript to a rigorous examination of JavaScript objects and the various object models, the authors have delivered exactly what I was looking for. I've always been confused about the proper interpretation of the `this' keyword. The authors explain precisely how and why that keyword operates in different contexts and I feel totally comfortable with it now. I also have to complement the authors and editors on the quality of the writing and the accuracy of the text. The writing is tight, the code samples are well crafted and self-contained and I've only found four mistakes in 400 pages of text. In fact, I've never seen so few errors in a technical book of this size. I highly recommend this book to anyone, regardless of your level of expertise.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not a a very good language guide, October 24, 2005

By 

T. Mikov (Bay Area, California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JavaScript: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Paperback)

The book is pleasantly written and easy to read, but unfortunately there are some important ommissions as far as describing the JavaScript language itself.

Inheritence is barely mentioned. There is no explanation at all of how to invoke the parent constructor with parameters.

Exceptions are not explained at all in the first part of the book, which is the language guide. Instead they are mentioned at the very end - in the applied programming examples.

There is no good explanation of the internal logic of the language - why certain things are as they are and how they fit together.

Considering the recent trend of writing full blown JavaScript applications, there is a lot to be desired.

The book is much better as a guide to applying simple JavaScript. It covers a wide variety of topics in sufficient detail - DHTML, XMLHTTPRequest, etc. The example scripts do not seem to be production quality, but they serve the purpose of illustrating the ideas well enough.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Review on behalf of Salt Lake City ColdFusion User Group, September 11, 2005

By 

Matthew Reinbold "Matthew Reinbold" (Salt Lake City, Utah) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: JavaScript: The Complete Reference, Second Edition (Paperback)

as read by Brian Buck

I found this book to be a solid reference to JavaScript. All of the examples in the book that I tried were portable and worked equally well in both Internet Explorer and Firefox. The appendices list all of the built-in objects and their associated methods and what to expect from each so building a function using the built-in objects becomes easier. One thing that I liked in particular about this book over others that I have seen is how is uses the DOM. Most books either assume you are a DOM guru and don't mention it at all or, they assume you are a DOM idiot and put so much detail about it that the book bogs down.

In 'The Complete Reference', if you want the entire breakdown of the DOM, its in the Appendices. If you don't, the book makes sure to include any references to the DOM that are pertinent to the example at hand giving enough to let the user be successful without overdoing it.