Customer Reviews

JavaScript - Comprehensive

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

 

 

The first thing one notices about "JavaScript-Comprehensive" is that neither the publisher, Course Technology, nor the author, Don Gosselin, could come up with any reason for the reader to part with (the money) for this book. With good reason. Having read more than 300 pages, I am convinced that Mr. Gosselin is as lost as I am when it comes to JavaScript.
He seems to have no idea of what an object is, and is completely incapable of explaining how JavaScript and HTML meld into a single whole.

On the otherhand, Professors Nakhimovsky and Myers, in "JavaScript Objects" have no trouble describing JavaScript objects as associative arrays, and pointing out that HTML governs how a web page looks and JavaScript controls how it behaves.

Gosselin is at his most confusing when describing objects, functions and variables (is there anything else?). One never knows when he is using an illustrative name or a builtin function.

The coinage of the term "instantiate" is annoying since he means "create an object" in some cases and "populate and existing object" in others.

Mr. Gosselin may be able to explain how to use office applications, but he should leave JavaScript alone.

Each chapter starts out well. But, the author begins to lose his reader due to either his unclear explainations (talking in circles) or just missing a step or two with his statements.

Also, I have found a couple errors in this book. For example, page 63 regarding 'Variable Scope' and page 67 (Questions section) #20 is incorrect.

It's a ok book if you have a idea of object-oriented programming, but I advise this is not a good book for the absolute novice in programming!

I used this book for a web development class on JavaScript. I felt that it was a good book and overall I have little ill to say about it. The examples are well written and do a good job of reinforcing what you read in the chapter. You read a little then do an example, then read some more, then add to the example and so on. You don't need any Programming experience to use this book just a decent understanding of HTML.
The only criticism I could offer is that the editor should have used arrows when content is being continued on a new line for reasons of page space so that readers will know and understand (beginners can have trouble with this). It's a good book for learning the whole language from the ground up and for this reason it's worth the money. It's not an overnight crash course (if that is what you are looking for).

I worked on databases and programming languages like C and PL/SQL. I bought the much acclaimed Javascript Definitive guide as well as Javascript Bible. If you try to learn Javascript from above books - "THE BURDEN IS ON YOU TO LEARN THE JAVASCRIPT " i.e., the authors don't really give good examples or decent explanations to explain the concepts clearly. But "Javascript comprehensive" book has very good examples and will walk you through every line and bottom line is " AUTHORS HAVE GONE TO GREAT LENGHTS AND DID TERRIFIC JOB IN MAKING OUR LEARNING PROCESS MUCH EASIER".

I am really looking forward for books on XML from the same publishers. Keep it up !

This isn't your typical 'cut and paste' JavaScript book. Time is spent explaining the concepts of what you are doing and why you are doing it. The book goes far beyond simple JavaSvript and covers some server-side scripting (ASP and server-side JavaScript) as well as database connectivity. It even contains a section on Java Applets. The student resource site has exercise downloads as well as powerpoint slides that cover each tutorial. I didn't find mistakes in the book. I wonder if what people perceive as mistakes are simply browser compatability issues?

The one negative I have found is that I feel that the book introduces the concept of prototypes too early. But since most JavaScript books don't even cover prototypes at all, I can't say that is much of a negative. If you find prototypes difficult you can simply browse the section over the first time through with no loss in continuity overall. This book covers beginner to intermediate material.

I'm taking a JavaScript class using this book, and it is probably the worst textbook in my 3+ years of college. I have learned almost nothing from it, and have had to search the Internet for better explanations of the concepts I am supposed to be studying just to complete my homework.

One problem (among many) is that it seems to have been poorly edited in going to the third edition. It seems they may have rearranged some of the content in the chapters, but left the assignments/projects in the same place so that when trying to do a project, don't assume everything you need in the book precedes the assignment.

If you are taking an online class and this is the textbook you are stuck with, you'll want to look for additional help online or with a better book. If you're interested in learning JavaScript on your own, start (and finish) somewhere else!

I was forced to buy this book as a textbook for my JavaScript class and looked forward to learning the language. The author seems to know what he's writing, but assumes that you do not need everything explained. There will be numerous examples instructing the reader to type lines of code to build short programs, but the author neglects to explain how each line is actually affecting the program. I went out and purchased "JavaScript for the World Wide Web, 4th Edition: Visual QuickStart Guide" and used it often when I needed further and better explaining of terms.

I recently finished a web development course using this book for javascript. The book is poorly edited and full of various errors. I doubt that this is the fault of the author and blame Course Technology. My progam tends to use books from Course Technology and I find them all poorly edited.

I am taking this class now and am a complete beginner. The first chapter blathers on about the history of the Internet. Who cares at this point? I've already read about the history of the Internet in three other classes I had to take before this one - get to the meat. But I must say, when the meat arrives it's difficult to digest.

Examples are not clear - there will be a line you're supposed to type but it's not entirely picture perfect of where to put that line of code. For a beginner, this is very frustrating. Also, if you're going to add so much code into the book for students to type at least include examples on a disk, or place as a download from the Course Technology site. The download offered is minimal.

I found myself searching the Internet to track down explanations for the various exercises in the book we've had to do for class homework. The examples used in the chapters are not good enough to help with some of the case studies at the end of the chapter. You'd have to REALLY understand what's going on here in order to decipher and synthesize it all into coherent statements.

I'm currently researching other books I can purchase to help me through this class because this one is not going to help. So if you want real meat and potatoes to help you learn JavaScript, find another book.

I agree with some of the other reviews in that this is not the best book to learn JavaScript without any prior knowledge of the language. I am using the book for a JavaScript class, but I am having to supplement it with other books on the subject. Gosselin's explanations are not that clear, and I am finding myself lost at times.