Customer Reviews

JavaScript for Programmers

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

 

 

Here's my breakdown:

1. This book definitely does spend time on other closely related things like XHTML, CSS, etc. That may or may not bother you. These are definitely a prereq to using JS so if you haven't really cut your teeth on them you may like this. I'm pretty good with all of these but there were a couple of things I realized I had overlooked so it worked out well for me.

2. You may not like their coding style if you're picky about things like DRY(don't repeat yourself), but hey, it's meant to be pedantic code and so you really should be thankful that it's easy to understand. Actually, the examples in the DOM chapter were quite good IMO.

3. Very readable and easy to comprehend if you have programming experience. That being said, it says "for Programmers". I'd say it's a little more for beginners.

4. I don't remember seeing anything on things like Object.prototype, .call, .apply, etc. So it's definitely NOT an advanced JS book. If you don't mind having a couple of different books, that still may not bother you as you could supplement with some sort of "definitive" tome. I have to say this one did bother me a bit and I thought at least one more advanced JavaScript chapter would have been good.

I have other programming books from these authors and that is why I bought this title. I have looked at other Javascript titles and was not impressed. The book is okay but needs to be reorganized. The following are the changes that it needs...

1) The book is short for tech books so it needs to focus on the important Javascript topics and not HTML format...

The book seems to spend a lot of time with XML and CSS, while important, there are other books that go into the detail and they do not spend enough time explaining and giving examples of the other topics critical to the subject.

2) In more detail they need to talk about code elements and the advanced features witch include built in, objects and DOM (there might be a few things that I may be missing...

I am disappointed since these authors have written very good books about the web, JAVA and PERL which are part of my book collection...

This book is promoted as a book for programmers. It starts at a HS level introduction and takes several chapters to get to anything resembling programming. It passes history and justification of the language along the way. I skipped all of that but then the writing style is obviously for someone who has absolutely no clue about programming. I have been a software engineer for more than 20 years and have learned many different languages, but have not seen a book this poorly written for a long time. If you know any programming at all, look for another book.

Programming libraries must have Javascript for Programmers, a guide to XHTML, CSS, XML and more. It applies the author's infamous live-code approach to JavaScript operations, presenting the basics in the form of over a hundred tested programs with 6,000 lines of code and detailed descriptions. RIA development is covered in detail plus there's a website with download code examples and free updated for this book online. A 'must' for any library catering to professional programmers.

Let me start by admitting I am only on page nine of this book, so I may have to change my rating later [EDIT: After having read all of the book, I have concluded it's not worth reading]. I am compelled to write this review because I am already heavily annoyed by amount of repetition in this book.

On page 3 I read

Errata and updates for this book are posted at [...]

and that is the sixth (!) time that URL is mentioned. The fifth time was exactly, to the line, one page earlier. Other URLs occur many times as well. Why not mention the above link just once, and let that be an index page that directs the reader to the other pages? Note also that the above link does not lead to an existing page AND the web site doesn't seem to offer errata to the book. I discovered this when I wanted to point out the mistakes -plural- in

"Common Programming Error 5.4: If the body of a while loop never causes the while statement's condition to become true, a logic error occurs."

I've read the phrase "send email to [...] and we'll respond promptly." a few times already as well. I find myself focusing more on the repetition than on the content. How can professional writers make such mistakes? Is this book templated and are all the paragraphs just gathered from previous books?

I suspect that the Deitels like to talk about themselves and/or like to see their names in print. Not just in the preface, but also on page 3: "In the late 1960s, one of the authors (HMD) was a graduate student at MIT..." and on page 7: "One of the authors, HMD, remembers the great frustration felt in the 1960s..." . Apparently, HMD has been in the business for a long time, and is proud of it. Unfortunately, this does not make for enjoyable reading.

It is one of the first rules you learn when (heaven forbid!) you go into marketing: Customers do not care about you as a sales person, nor do they care about the company you work for. What they are interested in, is how the product that you sell can make their life easier. I hope the Deitels will at some point take this lesson to heart and give us what we want and/or need, and paid for.

Self-glorification isn't it.