Customer Reviews

Laura Lemay's Web Workshop Javascript (Laura Lemay's Web Workshop Series)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I must agree with those listed below. Too many typos, too many errors. I tried to get some answers via Ms Lemay via her home web page but never an answer. It seems that a minute of her time is worth more than all the time wasted by readers of her book. My advice go for either the O'Reilly series by Flanagan or the Javascript Bible by Danny Goodman. At least these authors & publishers show more consideration to & respect for the reading public who do not want to waste their hard earned cash / time.

I am an advanced HTML writer. I purchased this book to learn JavaScript and as quoted in the introduction "I've mastered HTML. I know all about optimizing images for the Web. I've designed complex sites with hundreds of pages - sites that are visited daily by thousands of people. I want to do more. Where do I start?" Yes that's a description of me, but I say in response to that question "NOT WITH THIS BOOK". It is confussing and definately not in my opinion for a beginner who knows no JavaScript. In Australia, this book cost me $70 and I am not impressed to say the least on spending money on a book that I cannot even begin to comprehend.

This book was sufficient for me to get going with a language that is structured very differently from the traditional languages that I learned back in the dark ages. It's not designed as a comprehensive reference, although I've been using it as my sole Javascript reference for the past year. Rather, it teaches by having the reader learn to create building-blocks -- sections of code that will accomplish something useful -- and then goes on to show how to integrate those into larger projects. I didn't actually find the larger projects useful in and of themselves, but as examples of good Javascript code they were worth reading through.

I read about half of the book straight through, and then started skipping around as I needed to learn specific techniques. It works adequately that way, but in fact it is so full of little tricks -- some of which aren't even presented as such, but are just built into the examples -- that it will really repay anyone with the discipline to read it straight through. (I looked at a script used by the Adobe site that I wanted to emulate, but thought it looked kludgy and there MUST be a better way to do it. I spent several hours experimenting with document objects and attributes before finding the answer. Then in browsing Lemay's book for something else, I stumbled across the exact same technique being used in one of her examples. If only I had sat down and read that chapter earlier!)

The one shortcoming with the book, and the only reason I'm going to knock my rating down to four stars instead of five, is that the reference sections on document objects and properties should be more complete.

Randy Steer

Talk about an investment. I got this book for like thirty bucks and with the knowledge it provided I was able to more than double my salary in two years. Although some aggressive negotiating is still involved, in the end I still have to know my stuff and this book has provided me with it. Clear and easy to follow examples given throughout. When you built a solid foundation, go to the web for more updated information.

I picked this book up and it gives a good introduction to javascript. However, it is NOT for the newbie. If you don't have any programming experience in a major language (C/C++, Pascal, VB, etc.) find another book. This book rushes through many concepts that adept programmers already know. As I read I kept wondering how a newcomer would absorb all the information presented here.

However, being knowledgeable in programming, I was able to pick up on how Javascript works. The book is a little dated and doesn't list all the object properties for most objects - so a reference guide is needed.

Not a bad backup book, but don't make it your only one. You'll wind up short changing yourself.

There are far too many code errors in this book, which can be a huge headache if you are a beginner. Imagine copying code straight from the book and it doesn't work! If you are a beginner and not adept at debugging, it's enough to make you tear your hair out.

In the past I have defended Ms. Lemay because I liked her HTML book. That one worked and had plenty of examples and the code worked. I've had it with this book. There are not enough examples to learn from and many of the examples they do have don't work. The writing style is confusing, talking about subjects in a cloudy, round about way that doesn't take you where you think the subject is going. I had high hopes for the book, especially since these books cost a lot of money. I trusted her name and was let down. Ms. Lemay you have lost my loyalty and all of my future business. I can't trust you. If you ever read these comments I hope they have some impact on you, for your sake. So long

Don't listen to all the bad reviews. Those people either don't know how to program, or they don't realize that the code samples in the book are incomplete. I read this book and found it to be very useful for my needs. I am only a beginning programmer using Java and advanced using HTML (although you can hardly call HTML a programming language, any fool can create a web page). Prior experience has helped a great deal. Object oriented and object based languages are not for beginners. Get some experience under your belt before trying to learn these kind of languages on your own. Once you have that, this book will be an excellent resource.

This book was sufficient for me to get going with a language that is structured very differently from the traditional languages that I learned back in the dark ages. It's not designed as a comprehensive reference, although I've been using it as my sole Javascript reference for the past year. Rather, it teaches by having the reader learn to create building-blocks -- sections of code that will accomplish something useful -- and then goes on to show how to integrate those into larger projects. I didn't actually find the larger projects useful in and of themselves, but as examples of good Javascript code they were worth reading through.

I read about half of the book straight through, and then started skipping around as I needed to learn specific techniques. It works adequately that way, but in fact it is so full of little tricks -- some of which aren't even presented as such, but are just built into the examples -- that it will really repay anyone with the discipline to read it straight through. (I looked at a script used by the Adobe site that I wanted to emulate, but thought it looked kludgy and there MUST be a better way to do it. I spent several hours experimenting with document objects and attributes before finding the answer. Then in browsing Lemay's book for something else, I stumbled across the exact same technique being used in one of her examples. If only I had sat down and read that chapter earlier!)

The one shortcoming with the book, and the only reason I'm going to knock my rating down to four stars instead of five, is that the reference sections on document objects and properties should be more complete.

Randy Steer

Michael Moncur's book, JavaScript 1.1, is an excellent book if you're looking for a text for the classroom. I teach both an in-class HTML development course (using Lemay's current HTML 4.0 text) and a cyber-ed course, Introduction to JavaScript, at a major university in Massachusetts. After an exhaustive search of most of the JavaScript books out there (I read seven of them cover-to-cover), Moncur's book became my choice because of its clear descriptions, numerous examples, and sound organization. For the educator who is teaching or planning to teach any Web-based course, you'll find the "Task" sections and "Real Life Examples" chapters a great aid in classroom discussions and homework assignments. Moncur and Lemay have written the definitive text for JavaScript instruction.