JavaScript Bible (Paperback)

by Danny Goodman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Danny Goodman has repeatedly proven himself an excellent teacher of programming languages, and this latest edition of JavaScript Bible reinforces his reputation. If you're familiar with HTML and want to endow your pages with the kind of animation and interactivity that JavaScript can provide, this book is the best one you can buy.

Goodman covers the JavaScript 1.2 language comprehensively, and focuses on developing documents that fully exploit the capabilities of Netscape Navigator 4.0x. The author begins with the fundamentals of the language--variables, loops, data structures, functions, and the like. Then, he proceeds to systematically explore the more difficult characteristics of the language, including its limited object-orientation features and the extensions that apply to Dynamic HTML (DHTML). Server-side coverage is sparse, but that technology isn't nearly as widely used as client-side JavaScript.

JavaScript Bible contains both a tutorial and a reference, so it's useful to advanced JavaScript programmers as well as to beginners. Plus, the illustrative examples included in these pages--and on the accompanying CD-ROM--are generally useful. You'll find image-rollover routines, client-side database lookups, a DHTML puzzle, and many more programs that you'll be able to quickly adapt to your own projects. JavaScript Bible is a winner. --David Wall

Product Description
Expanded and enhanced from the second edition, the third edition of this title covers the powerful functionality JavaScript gains with releases from Netscape Navigator 4 and Internet Explorer 4. The book features ready-to-use JavaScript applications and additional JavaScript and Web page routines. As with the last edition, this book should bring non-professionals, including casual programmers and scripters, up-to-speed on all aspects of mastering JavaScript. This includes programming fundamentals, JavaScript language elements and how to use them effectively, and how to add functionality to HTML documents and Java applets. JavaScript comes built-in on Netscape servers and with every version of Netscape Navigator. It is functional on any Netscape Navigator and Internet Explorer Web page. The enclosed Windows/Mac CD-ROM includes over 100 sample scripts from the book, Web page templates, an on-screen quick-reference in Apple Guide WinHelp and HTML formats, as well as hundreds of megabytes of useable Web design elements and software.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 1015 pages
• Publisher: Hungry Minds Inc; 3rd edition (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764531883
• ISBN-13: 978-0764531880
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (131 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #909,084 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 88 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It is not for beginners, but the best for the next step up, May 28, 2000

By	Johnny Liu (Jersey City, NJ) - See all my reviews

This book is not for someone who is an absolute beginner to scripting or programming. I would only recommend it for someone who has some experience with scripting and programming - you don't need much, but you do need some in order to fully enjoy this book.

When I bought this book, I had already read a slimmer, truly beginner JavaScript book, "Teach Yourself JavaScript 1.3 in 24 Hours" by SAMS. The SAMS book taught me the basic concepts of JavaScript and gave me a good foundation in Document Object Model, syntax, scripting logic, etc. With that knowledge already, the Goodman, JavaScript Bible was fully appreciated.

The JavaScript Bible is the best book around on the subject for an intermediate beginner - I mean someone who is still a beginner to JavaScript, but not an absolute beginner. When you are at this stage, buy this book. It is the best learning tutorial at that stage. After reading this I intend to buy the O'Reilly JavaScript book for reference and comparison. I would not recommend the O'Reilly book as the proper learning tutorial for the intermediate beginner, because unlike the JavaScript Bible, the O'Reilly book is written for those who are quite programming and scripting saavy. The O'Reilly book is worth purchasing for reference after reading the JavaScript Bible. The O'Reilly book is also worth buying later in order to find any points that The JavaScript Bible may have not included (and points that the O'Reilly book may have not included but are found in the JavaScript Bible). The JavaScript Bible is a good teacher and a very good reference book. The O'Reilly book is a OK teacher and an excellent reference book.

66 of 69 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The one book to have if you want to learn JavaScript, September 14, 1998

By A Customer

When I was first learning JavaScript a year or so ago, I bought a couple of different books, all of which wasted half their space explaining HTML and the world wide web. Then the things they explained about JavaScript were either cryptic, badly written, or just plain wrong.

Then, thankfully, the third time was the charm. I had bought the 2nd edition of this book, and it was everything I could have hoped for. The 3rd edition has only improved on the previous one.

Now I can look up any element of JavaScript and know which browsers it will and won't work with. I get lots of concrete examples that I can take, combine, mutate, and play around with until I get what I'm looking for in my scripts. And any time I need to double-check how something works, it's a quick page flip away.

If you only have the money to buy one book about this language, and you're not already a heavy-duty programmer, then buy this book! It's worth every penny.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEST Book, January 19, 2000

By	Max Fedorov (Philadelphia, USA) - See all my reviews

I work for a company that finished a multimillion project on the WEB in 5 months. Most of it front end manipulations were done with the help of this book. Remote Scripting and this book will help you make big bucks.