Special Edition Using JavaScript [Paperback]

Paul McFedries (Author)

Book Description

Series: Special Edition Using | Publication Date: June 19, 2001

Special Edition Using JavaScript covers the following topics:

An Overview of JavaScript

Programming Fundamentals

Basic Objects

Working with Browser Windows

Working with the Document Object

Working with Forms

Dynamic HTML

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Special Edition Using JavaScript covers the following topics:

An Overview of JavaScript

Programming Fundamentals

Basic Objects

Working with Browser Windows

Working with the Document Object

Working with Forms

Dynamic HTML

About the Author

Paul McFedries is the president of Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company. He has been programming since he was a teenager in the mid-1970s, has programmed everything from mainframes to desktops to bar code scanners, and has worked with many different languages, including Fortran, assembly language, C++, and of course, JavaScript. Paul has written over three dozen books that have sold more than two million copies worldwide, including Windows 98 Unleashed, VBA for Office 2000 Unleashed, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Windows Me, and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Web Page. Paul encourages all readers to drop by his Web site: http://www.mcfedries.com If you have any comments about the book, please send them to the following address: [e-mail] Note, however, that due to time constraints, Paul regrets that he cannot provide JavaScript technical support or custom programming.

Product Details

• Paperback: 896 pages
• Publisher: Que; Special Ed edition (June 19, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789725762
• ISBN-13: 978-0789725769
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,229,017 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul McFedries runs Logophilia Limited, a technical writing company, and has been writing computer books for more than 17 years. He is the author or coauthor of more than 60 books that have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. Paul is also the proprietor of Wordspy.com, a website that tracks new words and phrases as they enter the language.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent intro to JavaScript, June 24, 2002

By 

Spoonbits (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using JavaScript (Paperback)

In my opinion, the best "how to" book on JavaScript for someone like myself - a novice in both JavaScript and programming. I spent a fair amount of time reading online reviews and followed that by examining the books at the local bookstore. This book concluded my search for an introduction to JavaScript. If you are someone who is looking to learn this scripting language, I have no reservations in recommending this book.

Importantly, it is very well written. I have come across tech books where the author might have a tremendous amount of knowledge on the subject... but simply isn't a fluid writer, making it dry and difficult to follow. This book is well organized, the explanations are clear and easy to follow, and the writing style is not dry. The writing style also refrains from cheesy humor - a style that some might enjoy, but I find that it can get annoying.

At 896 pages it is quite comprehensive, and (to my untrained eye) appears similar to the O'Reilly Definitive Guide in this respect. (The O'Reilly is 776 ppg. and printed in a larger font) . However, "Using JavaScript" is a tutorial guide whereas the O'Reillly is not. The explanations are geared towards the novice and include simple examples of the code that can be typed in to see how it functions in the browser. The O'Reilly guide relies more on verbal explanations - which, for the beginner like myself, aren't that helpful as I can't relate the explanation to its actual working function.

The earlier chapters of this book carefully explain everything and provide easy to follow examples. The scripts become more complex as the book progresses. The included scripts cover, I assume, most of the stuff you'd need to know to add basic functionality to a web page... in this respect it acts like a cookbook such as the JavaScript Quick Start Guide. Unlike the Quick Start Guide, however, this book goes far deeper into explaining the mechanics of JavaScript and is much more useful in this regard.

5 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book-apply Javascript in your web pages in a few days, October 23, 2001

By 

"codedaemon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Special Edition Using JavaScript (Paperback)

This book should get anyone who understands the C programming language and HTML up and running in a few days. Do things like use Javascript to check for certain conditions, the web browser information, password protection, shopping cart and such. The book is an introduction so you don't see server side scripting, however, most pro webpages use a whole lot more technologies like DHTML,XML and there is a need for other supplementary material. Yes there is a need for a JavaScript language reference like Pure JavaScript. Anyway, I think I like it because it is well written.