ppk on JavaScript, 1/e (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)

by Peter-Paul Koch (Author)
Key Phrases: speed meter, dropdown menu, browser wars, Usable Forms, Site Survey, Sandwich Picker (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"ppk on JavaScript is a well-written and cleanly structured walk through useful JavaScript examples. It is extremely practical, and goes right to the core of what a web programmer needs to know about JavaScript to build real sites, right now.

In essence, it reminds me of how I learned to work on the web in the first place: careful examination of other people’s work. At its best, this book is a clearly annotated view source of Koch’s projects. It’s a comprehensive exploration of Koch’s thoughts about the problems he’s run into (problems that you’ll run into, too), how he approached them, and ultimately how he’s solved them."  -- Mike West, Managing Editor, Digital Web Magazine

Product Description

Whether you're an old-school scripter who needs to modernize your JavaScripting skills or a standards-aware Web developer who needs best practices and code examples, you'll welcome this guide from a JavaScript master.

Other JavaScript books use example scripts that have little bearing on real-world Web development and are useful only in the chapter at hand. In contrast, Peter-Paul Koch's book uses eight real-world scripts he created for real-world clients in order to earn real-world money. That means the scripts are guaranteed to do something useful (and sellable!) that enhances the usability of the page they're used on.

The book's example scripts include one that sorts a data table according to the user's search queries, a form validation script, a script that shows form fields only when the user needs them, a drop-down menu, and a data retrieval script that uses simple Ajax and shows the data in an animation.

After an overview of JavaScript's purpose, Peter-Paul provides theoretical chapters on the context (jobs for JavaScript, CSS vs. JavaScript), the browsers (debugging, the arcana of the browser string), and script preparation. Then follow practical chapters on Core, BOM, Events, DOM, CSS Modification, and Data Retrieval, all of which are explained through a combination of theoretical instruction and the taking apart of the relevant sections of the example scripts.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 528 pages
• Publisher: New Riders Press (September 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0321423305
• ISBN-13: 978-0321423306
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #64,337 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great JavaScript book by PPK!, October 12, 2006

By	Frank Stepanski (PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

It's funny, from looking at the title of the book, "PPK on JavaScript", you would never know it is one of the most interesting and informative JavaScript books on the market. PPK - Peter-Paul Koch is a well-known JavaScript and web developer from the Netherlands. His website [...] has pretty much been the defacto standard resource for all browser and JavaScript issues for the past few years. If there was something you wanted to know about JavaScript or some browser bug or issue you would go to his website or email him. He probably is not known unless you read some of the well-known development blog sites. He does not do public speaking at web conferences (unlike Jeremy Keith), but maybe after this book he will. And yes, most people it seems just call him PPK, not Peter so I guess that is one of the reason of the book title.

Anyways, on to the book review...Since I have most of the latest JavaScript books that have been published the past year, I was hoping this would be a little different, which it was. The skill level for this book is probably leaning towards the intermediate side since many of the code-snippets that PPK talks about use DOM syntax. Though that is not to say that if you're a beginner you shouldn't buy this book, but you will need to fast-forward to the middle of the book (Chapter 5), which he gives a great background of the Core concepts of the JavaScript language.

So basically the book is split into 3 sections (or how I see them separated). The first 4 chapters goes into high-level topics that are great for the basic DOM scripting who knows the basics of using the DOM but needs more instruction with usability, accessibility, standards and how the different layers (structure, content and presentation) work. These 4 chapters are the best in my opinion because most of these topics would require you to search endless articles on the web to find them. Apart from a few pages in the 5th edition of JavaScript: The Definitive Guide, I have not seen this in any other book. Chapter 5: The Core; covers all basics of the language to get anybody up to speed or use as a reference. The rest of the book covers topics such as the BOM (Browser Object Model), Events, DOM (Document Object Model), and CSS modification. The included source examples are the real gem of the book since it is real JavaScript applications that were used in real clients, not just little code examples that cannot be used in the real environment.

So if you need another JavaScript book and not sure what to get, or you have bought Jeremy Keith's excellent book (DOM Scripting: Web Design with JavaScript) and want to learn more about the DOM and accessibility or you are a newbie and want to learn the latest JavaScript standards and practices from a real developer, then this is the book for you. Go out and get it now!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fills a void, October 30, 2006

By	Jeanne Boyarsky (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

"ppk on JavaScript" fills an interesting void with the focus of today's JavaScript books. Most books either focus on "JavaScript in 21 Days", "JavaScript - Complete Reference" or "AJAX". This book covers techniques for creating clean and accessible JavaScript functionality.

The book's stated audience is someone who knows at least some JavaScript - a beginning level or up. Basically, you should feel comfortable reading and understanding code. I think the book might be a little overwhelming for a beginner to understand. A beginner could read it twice - once right away and once after reading another JavaScript book.

The author views JavaScript as a technique to add usability. He shows how to create "unobtrusive" JavaScript. In other words, the JavaScript stays out of the HTML page and the page works without JavaScript, albeit with less functionality.

Eight case studies (real life examples) are used throughout the book. The author points out why he selected certain techniques. He also notes bugs and where he would have done things differently. I particularly liked the emphasis on separation of concerns.

Keyboard users are also discussed from an accessibility point of view in several chapters. In other chapters, only users without JavaScript enabled were discussed. I would have liked a little more consistency with how accessibility was treated.

Overall, the book was very good. The tips were useful and I enjoyed the emphasis on design. And AJAX is discussed from the point of view of how it was used before it was called AJAX.

15 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Less than I thought, January 19, 2007

By	Andrew Hoffman "Antibland" (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I've been happily using ppk's website, quirksmode, for years. So when I saw his first book advertised on Amazon, I immediately pre-ordered it and waited anxiously for it to arrive. After reading through most it, I was really disappointed in its lack of more advanced topics.

Mr. Koch admits that the book doesn't cover every topic and is meant to address the real-world situations we web developers encounter. The problem is that, for JavaScript vets like me, I wanted this book to give me a deeper understanding of how using objects and, say, prototyping, could streamline the time it takes for me to write good, reusable code for my various projects. Sadly, none of these topics were covered. For a long book like this, it seems there was ample room to have covered these topics in some depth.

I would have given this book 2 stars, but ppk's writing style is very clear and understandable. Mr. Koch is a good teacher and shows a solid understanding of the concepts he's covered. Beginner and intermediate JavaScripters will find this book to be a nice reference with plenty of reusable code. For the more advanced, I imagine you'll discover the book's lack of depth as I have.