Customer Reviews

Learning Ext JS

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The index to this book is grossly inadequate, I've tried to look up various terms, and they are not where you would expect to find them alphabetically. For instance, there is only one entry for JSON under "J" but as I read the book there were probably another dozen references, which instead are presumably organized under the appropriate heading within the index. But someone who is just "Learning ExtJS" as per the title won't know how the topics are or should be organized, and then is in the position of perusing the entire index or even book, which defeats the purpose of an index.

There is another glaring issue regarding JSON, and that is that the book perpetuates gross misinformation about the JSON data interchange format. In particular, it refers to the omnipresent configuration objects used by ExtJS as JSON, and this is indisputably inaccurate; all you have to do is visit [...] for instance to learn that string keys within JSON objects must be double quoted, but this is not the case with ExtJS configuration objects.

It's not entirely the authors' fault though, as even the ExtJS documentation regarding the "JsonStore" object bogus-ly refers to an object literal as JSON when the value contains "new Date(....)" which is NOT allowed in JSON. Regardless, the authors should know the underlying language and data formats sufficiently to not perpetuate this misinformation. Douglas Crockford, inventor of JSON, has written that Javascript is the most misunderstood programming language, and now JSON is on its way to becoming the most misunderstood data interchange format, and this book just exacerbates the process.

As programmers we are supposed to be painstakingly precise, so such grossly inaccurate and misleading information is anathema, and calls into question the validity and veracity of the rest of the material. Even without the issues surrounding JSON, there are too many other inaccuracies for this volume to warrant unmitigated praise. The "notes" in particular, to which special attention are drawn every few pages or so, are unclear sometimes to the point of being non-sequitirs because they refer to material a half-page or page away.

The above all being said, after initially reading half of the chapters of this book, I have picked it up on average once or twice a day in my first couple of weeks working with the framework, so it's by no means entirely worthless. However, I expect how often I refer to this book to decrease dramatically in the near future, and not just because of the atrocious index. Rather, so much of this book barely scratches the surface, and the shame is it doesn't have to be this way.

For instance, Chapter 9 regarding tree structures does well to note at the beginning that this is ideal for dealing with files and folders hierarchies. But then instead of showing off this functionality for this purpose, the example diagrams show branches and leaves of the tree named "aardvark", "bee", "cockroach". This might be fine to illustrate sorting, but these diagrams are used throughout the entire chapter, most of which has nothing to do with sorting, nor does the chapter go on to cover using trees to represent file and folder hierarchies whatsoever; it's as though the authors have never really used ExtJS's tree functionality.

In the end all I will be able to do with the book is give it away; it can by no means serve as an enduring reference. If you need a lot of hand holding, this book might be appropriate, otherwise stick with the online documentation and forums.

This book is a good introduction to EXT JS. It will teach you the basics and help to get you familiar with writing code in EXT JS and learning the basic syntax. The examples are helpful and most are easy to follow. This book is an introduction because it does not go into much detail about building a complex web application but it will give you the confidence to continue researching and learning EXTJS on your own.

I would recommend this book to anyone that has some experience in programming that is looking to start coding in EXT JS. Just dont expect it to teach you everything there is to know, it is more of a stepping stone.

Overall, if you are just getting into EXT JS and want a good book to get you started this is the one.

I just start with ExtJS and I think this book is perfect for those like me who wants to know what can be done with this framework and get good and simple code examples.

Ext JS on-line documentation is helpful if you know how to use it. The problem is that is not always straight-forward. There is a good deal of frustration when you can't get it...

This book is easy to follow. It has simple but very valuable examples, so you can use them as a base and then apply advanced features to your code on the fly.

I wished I'd had this book when I started learning Ext JS. Have fun...


Dmitriy

does not cover 3.0 .... but not many things change .... so, good buy .. very well written

This book is fantastic. It is one of the best technology books I have ever read. Extjs is explained in simple layers starting with the basics and layering on more concepts with further examples. The examples are fantastic - with just enough to convey the point, but still remaining simple. When a sample is expanded, the new lines are shown in bold so you can quickly see what changed.

Before reading this book EXT JS seemed big and complicated, now it seems well thought out & easy to master.

This book makes it easy to learn about Ext JS for developers who don't have that much exposure to Javascript. It gives a solid background for the fundamentals required to master the Ext JS library.

The backend uses PHP. I was able to integrate Ext JS with Rails after some help on the Rails side from a friend. Very easy to read and well written. The authors have done an excellent job!

The book is written with the experienced developer in mind. It's all about getting productive as quickly as possible.
We've all been there, thrown into an unfamiliar technology and expected to perform miracles overnight.
In these situations you can find yourself floundering, looking for some starting guidence while you try to find your feet.

The book is focused very specifically on Ext JS, so if you've never dealt with HTML or javascript before, I'd suggest a second reference to cover that as well.
Having said that, if your just working with Ext JS for your presentation interface, the book is complete enough to get you up and running.

After an obligitory introduction chapter, and some foundation concepts, your quickly working with Ext widgets.
Very soon your creating Ext JS forms, applying textfields, datefields, combos, toolbars and validations.
The very popular Grid an Tree components are also well covered, with Layouts appearing surprising late in the book.

I enjoyed the flow of the book, which is written in an easy reading light hearted style.
The examples clearly explained the concepts, and raised a few chuckles at the same time.

Examples that included server-side code assume a PHP backend, a fairly typical implementation for Ext JS.
I work with Oracle Application Express and PL/SQL, never the less the examples were easy to follow if you focused on the format of the server output rather than the implementation language.

Overall, if your starting out with Ext JS, or struggling understanding the Ext JS examples and scattered forum posts, this book is a good reference.

The book covers the concepts nicely. It would help if the authors who worked together on this book made sure each example was available in PHP and ColdFusion back ends since the examples inside swap between the platforms. It's OK that the book shows it different but code done that way would be very nice to download.

For a project at one of our customers, we're building a rich web application using the Coolite web controls in ASP.NET MVC. Coolite is a great product, wrapping all Ext JS widgets in an ASP.NET control. Upon ordering a license for both, we received two free copies of Packt's "Learning Ext JS", providing better insight in what's going on behind the curtains of Coolite.

I only spent one evening reading this book and must admit: it's really great at getting you started quickly with Ext JS. You're working with grids, windows and your own grid column renderers, creating a nice looking application which enables you to manage your DVD collection. As a plus, almost every example features a character or quote from the best movie ever (as an ICT-er): Office Space. This makes it a nice read (at least for me).

The people at Coolite actually did a great job providing this book with their license, as you get a better view of what they do when wrapping Ext JS widgets. If you're not buying Coolite or a commercial Ext JS license, there's always Packt's website offering this book for purchase, too. Nice read!