jQuery in Action (Paperback)

by Bear Bibeault (Author), Yehuda Katz (Author), John Resig (Foreword)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
A good web development framework anticipates what you need to do and makes those tasks easier and more efficient; jQuery practically reads your mind. Developers of every stripe-hobbyists and professionals alike-fall in love with jQuery the minute they've reduced 20 lines of clunky JavaScript into three lines of elegant, readable code. This new, concise JavaScript library radically simplifies how you traverse HTML documents, handle events, perform animations, and add Ajax interactions to your web pages.

jQuery in Action, like jQuery itself, is a concise tool designed to make you a more efficient and effective web developer. In a short 300 pages, this book introduces you to the jQuery programming model and guides you through the major features and techniques you'll need to be productive immediately. The book anchors each new concept in the tasks you'll tackle in day-to-day web development and offers unique lab pages where you immediately put your jQuery knowledge to work.

There are dozens of JavaScript libraries available now, with major companies like Google, Yahoo and AOL open-sourcing their in-house tools. This book shows you how jQuery stacks up against other libraries and helps you navigate interaction with other tools and frameworks.

jQuery in Action offers a rich investigation of the up-and-coming jQuery library for client-side JavaScript. This book covers all major features and capabilities in a manner focused on getting the reader up and running with jQuery from the very first sections. Web Developers reading this book will gain a deep understanding of how to use jQuery to simplify their pages and lives, as well as learn the philosophy behind writing jQuery-enhanced pages.

About the Author
Bear Bibeault has been working in the area of web applications since the mid-90s, getting started with beta versions of JSP and Servlets. He is a senior moderator at the popular JavaRanch site, and has contributed articles to that site's JavaRanch Journal. He also co-authored two other Manning books: Ajax in Practice and Prototype and Scriptaculous in Action. Bear works and resides in Austin, TX.

Yehuda Katz contributes actively to jQuery, heading up the plugin development team. He also runs Visual jQuery, a dynamic, brosable version of the jQuery API, used heavily by new users of the library and core developers alike. Born in Minnesota and raised in New York, he now lives in sunny Santa Barbara, CA, where he works for Procore Technologies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; illustrated edition edition (February 7, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933988355
• ISBN-13: 978-1933988351
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,853 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A tour de force, April 19, 2008

By	Ernest Friedman-Hill "JavaRanch Sheriff" (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

jQuery is a Javascript framework that aims to let you think structurally and conceptually, rather than worrying about syntax and other details. In that largely succeeds, and so does this remarkable book.

Every technical book should be like this one; having written a few myself, I know that's a tall order. "jQuery in Action" is concise but clear, humorous but not silly, and answers all the questions it raises, quickly. The reader is never left wondering "But what about..." for more than a sentence or two. The authors clearly gave a lot of thought to pedagogy, because things are explained in a clear way which progresses naturally from chapter to chapter. Factor in the extremely readable style and the handsome diagrams, and it's easy to see why reading this book is a sheer joy.

For each major feature of jQuery, this book provides a "Laboratory page", a kind of interactive HTML playground where you can try the feature out using different options. The remarkable flexibility of these pages is a testament to both the power of jQuery and to the imagination and creativity of the authors.

Perhaps the most commendable feature of "jQuery in Action" is, however, its unflinching honesty. All too often authors are interested in selling you on an approach or a product, and they tend to gloss over the rough spots to win you over. These authors refuse to do that. They present their topic just as it is, describe its merits, and let the reader decide. You should, of course, decide to buy this book!

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent resource for learning jQuery, March 7, 2008

By	M. A. Mowen (Maryland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I usually don't write reviews, but I read tons of them. However, after starting "jQuery in Action" I just have to write about this book. After reading the first two chapters I could tell that this book is a "keeper". The interactive "lab" exercises (starting in Chapter 2) help explain jQuery's capabilities and features quickly and conveniently, using your computer browser. This method of teaching is terrific; very intelligent, yet simple.
I started out by reading the Appendix: "Javascript that you need to know but might not!". This helped to fill in my understanding of Javascript and was a good way to ease into the book. I am not a Javascript expert but I am a seasoned programmer and I have read dozens upon dozens of technical books over the years, and I know a well developed technical guide when I see it.
Kudos to the authors and the publisher for a fine book about jQuery.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, Best Ajax Library, May 29, 2008

By	Craig B. Kaminsky "ImageAid" (Ouray, CO USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is just an excellent book all around. It's well-written. No BS to wade through (just the stuff you need to get going with jQuery). It has excellent online tools to download so you can really get into jQuery and how it works (they call it a Lab page -- it's a set of HTML pages that you download and use to test tasks or theories in jQuery).

I haven't read too many books solely on Ajax frameworks but I cannot recommend this one enough. You'll be up and running with jQuery faster than you can imagine.