Customer Reviews

Javascript Annotated Archives (Annotated Archives S)

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

 

 

I can't say this book is worthless. It is fine on window manipulating (chap 1 e 2). Chapters 3,4 deal with status bars and banners effects, which are no longer used by modern web sites. Chapter 5 is worth reading if you use cookies to store info on user browser. Chapter 6 on search engines is fine too. Chapter 7 menu systems and frames, the way explained in this book, are no longer used in modern web sites (at least commerce oriented ones). Chapter 8 deals with server side scripting, which limits your target to Netscape servers. This is also old technology when compared do asp and jsp. Final comments: Pros: lot of javascript code, including validating functions, window creation and others. Cons: old book, old technology Look for: David Flanagan's JavaScript Definitive Guide (for concise reference) and JavaScript Bible for code snipplets.

I bought this book expecting to cut and paste some cool scripts into my web pages. It turns out, most of what's covered in this book is obsolete, just plain tacky, or already available free-of-charge on any of the web's many java script resource sites. But if you enjoy dissecting the code behind useless scripts, this books for you!

The four previous reviewers must be friends of the author -- this book is a sham. It has only 8 chapters, each of which address one fluffy topic such as cookies or banners. Server side programming is almost completely ignored -- they throw in one token chapter at the end that only works on Netscape servers! ActiveX is not even mentioned in the book. Better (and a wider range of) code examples can be had at numerous sites on the web for free. Save your money!

This book is a great reference and a great source for javascripts.

My initial thoughts on the book were:

Wow, Cool, Professional

Those three words sum the book up very nicely. The book is very professionally laid out, and has a nice quality tome feel to it rather than the sometimes brutal look of general programming guides.

Once you get inside, the book is well presented, and well written.

The most attractive aspect of the book is that it presents problems, or ideas, and then shows sample code to do it. I really like the structure of getting the full code so you can look through it, and then the nice summary of each section and the sequence flow through the program that you get afterwards. Another nicety is the addition of 'this is how you could expand on this idea' giving optional extras that could be built into your own versions of similar code.

I've certainly learnt one or two tricks from the book that I wasn't aware of or hadn't thought of, and it's nuggets like those that make any book worth buying.

By tackling the issues by example the authors have successfully written a book that should cater for all tastes. The professionals will use it for ideas, and the beginners will use it to help them learn the language.

If you want a good, solid 'learn by example' JavaScript book you couldn't do better.

To begin with... I don't think this book is terrible. If you expect a book that takes a collection of beginner-intermediate Javascript examples from numerous sources without code enhancement that simply explains how each line works, this book is for you (good for beginners). If you want advanced Script examples... find something else to read. I've used one example from the book since I purchased it, and that had to be rewritten to the point where it was basically new code. I'd give this book 2 1/2 stars. My advice is to find a copy at a local book store and see if the code you need is there... if so, come back to Amazon and buy it. (Be aware that there are several good javascript sites with lots of code examples (www.javascript.com))

The back cover blurb starts off, "You hold in your hands the most innovative JavaScript programming tool ever created. Like no other book before, ...". At this point my heart started to sink, but it turned out to be true. This is a book who's mission is to explain. The annotated examples are an obvious way of doing just that - but it took a combination of journalists and programmers to actually do it. Bravo! Writers of other books on programming languages, please go out and buy this book.

I am a rank beginner when it comes to programming. Being totally naive, I was able to take on a website production job without any real hesitation. After all, how hard can it be? So I started with JS for Dummies (ISBN 0764502239) and got stuck in the wilderness for several days. Annotated Archives saved my bacon. Not that it is a Javascript tutorial, to be used by beginners on its own. But this is the book that tells you why things are done like they are, not just "do them like this, because that's how it is".

My wife and I are expecting our fisrt child in a couple of months. If it's a boy, the only question will be whether to name it Jeff, Henry or Dwayne. Enough said.

I've never seen a format like this before. It's great. You can put these cool scripts to work right away or delve deep into the text to find out how to customize. If you already know the basics of JavaScript this book is alot of fun cause you learn by doing, not by working through a boring tutorial. The book's a great read as well!