Customer Reviews

JavaScript Demystified

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a great book to start with for those who want to learn JavaScript. It has excellent discussion of the basics of the language with plenty of examples to follow along with. Most of the example scripts are small and basic in nature. But, they can still make useful additions to any website that might need image rollovers, cookies or pop-up windows. In the later chapters there are a few larger and slightly more complicated scripts like an image slide show. The book also has thorough coverage of basic programming concepts like variables, arrays, loops and such. Therefore, any prior programming or scripting knowledge is not an absolute requirement. All the code in this book worked smoothly with errors found only in the HTML code. The minor, and somewhat strange, errors in the HTML code really didn't create any problems. The multiple choice final exam did provide a descent review of the material at the end of the book. However, I would have preferred answers with a little explanation rather than just the correct letter.

The only issue I had with this book is the final chapters. I did expect a little more exposure to advanced scripts and concepts. There were only a few examples and most were scripts from dynamicdrive.com with little or no discussion of new concepts. Much of the final two chapters were just descriptions with URL's of sophisticated scripts that can be downloaded from Dynamic Drive. This was a bit disappointing since most designers/developers probably know how to find and install scripts from the many code libraries on the web.

Overall, JavaScript Demystified is a great book for a true beginner with no prior experience with scripting or programming. This is not the best book for those who just want to copy scripts or who are expecting advanced topics. This is a book for those who want to actually learn JavaScript. I definitely would look forward to a new book by the same author in the same format that covers advanced JavaScript.

If you're experience is like mine, you'll be building sophisticated JavaScript and DHTML very quickly if you follow along with this book. I found this book very easy to read. There's enough technical jargon to get the job done without confusing you. Guess why they called it demystified. I had my doubts when I purchased the book because of the price and size. I don't have any doubts now. Don't expect to get into all the fine points of JavaScript because you won't find them here. But if you want to be productive right away without the hassles of learning the minutia, then give this a try.

Clear and concise, done with not one wit of 'speaking down' to you, and the explanations are straightforward. The material is introduced a piece at a time, and with reasonable review questions that are surprisingly thorough.
I would suggest it to anyone who wants a good reference to JavaScript as well. Buy it you won't be disappointed.

I you ever wondered how the professional web page developers dress up their web pages, then take a look at this book. Every trick that I've seen on commercial web pages are revealed in this book. I easily copied code from the book into my web pages and made mine work like a pro web page. Good book.

I like to dress up my web sites using features that are on built into well known web sites. I don't have time go through tons of pages of theory. I want find the feature and copy the code then customize it to meet my needs. Keogh's book is filled with these features. You flip through and find the feature then drop it into your code. And it seems to cover all the latest and fancy features. I have no problem recommending this book.

JavaScript Demystified covers both the basics and practical features that you can use immediately to develop a classy website. It is an easy read. Everything I needed to know was explained clearly and to the point. This is the second Demystified book that I've purchased. The other was Java. Both lived up to my expectations. I have no problem recommending this book to anyone who wants basic and advance topics of JavaScript explained in plain, simple English.

Good stuff in this book. I learned a lot about JavaScript from Keogh's book. Not a lot of technical jargon that looses you half way through the chapter. Clean examples. Practical too. Not disappointed at all.

I started to use this book and came across a few errors. These resulted in errors in the output. I went to the website to find the errata for the book but there is no errata as promised.

Also, the book states that the scripts can be downloaded from the website. I could not find them.

I think anyone wishing to buy the book check out for errata, if they can find them, on the website. I didn't and I probably would not have bought the book if I had known there was no support from the publisher.

I have always had a bad experience with Mc Graw Hill.

I felt that this book was very good for beginners as well as a good reference for those that have a strong background in html and JavaScript.

I'm a novice programmer seeking to understand the fundamentals of JavaScript. Usually, I can grasp the basics of a new programming language well enough after reading a couple books to begin my own experimentation. Upon reading reviews and other information available for this book, I concluded that JavaScript Demystified would be a good first book for this purpose. I was wrong.

It does cover fundamentals. However, the author isn't an efficient technical writer, and I found his explanations convoluted, tedious, and lacking in precision. Further, while plenty of examples for JavaScript capabilities are provided, the author does little to nothing to couch them into real world contexts. The same is true for the 'tips' and 'sidebars' included in the text. Use of callouts like this is widely prevalent in technical manuals and the technique can be effective, but in this book what you get instead are irrelevent distractions that almost universally conclude in the same manner by stating that 'you'll learn about "this" later'.

The net result: you'll find yourself tagging along on not-so-clear, technical explanations without any understanding of why you should. That was OK for a chapter or so, but the book proved ineffective at addressing more complex material and I abandoned it as a result.