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Effective JavaScript: 68 Specific Ways to Harness the Power of JavaScript (Effective Software Development Series) 1st Edition
David Herman
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Living up to the expectation of an Effective Software Development Series programming book, Effective JavaScript by Dave Herman is a must-read for anyone who wants to do serious JavaScript programming. The book provides detailed explanations of the inner workings of JavaScript, which helps readers take better advantage of the language.”
―Erik Arvidsson, senior software engineer
“Before reading Effective JavaScript, I thought it would be just another book on how to write better JavaScript. But this book delivers that and so much more―it gives you a deep understanding of the language. And this is crucial. Without that understanding you’ll know absolutely nothing whatever about the language itself. You’ll only know how other programmers write their code.
“Read this book if you want to become a really good JavaScript developer. I, for one, wish I had it when I first started writing JavaScript.”
―Anton Kovalyov, developer of JSHint
“If you’re looking for a book that gives you formal but highly readable insights into the JavaScript language, look no further. Intermediate JavaScript developers will find a treasure trove of knowledge inside, and even highly skilled JavaScripters are almost guaranteed to learn a thing or ten. For experienced practitioners of other languages looking to dive headfirst into JavaScript, this book is a mustread for quickly getting up to speed. No matter what your background, though, author Dave Herman does a fantastic job of exploring JavaScript―its beautiful parts, its warts, and everything in between.”
―Rebecca Murphey, senior JavaScript developer, Bocoup
“Effective JavaScript is essential reading for anyone who understands that JavaScript is no mere toy and wants to fully grasp the power it has to offer. Dave Herman brings users a deep, studied, and practical understanding of the language, guiding them through example after example to help them come to the same conclusions he has. This is not a book for those looking for shortcuts; rather, it is hard-won experience distilled into a guided tour. It’s one of the few books on JavaScript that I’ll recommend without hesitation.”
―Alex Russell, TC39 member, software engineer, Google
“Rarely does anyone have the opportunity to study alongside a master in their craft. This book is just that―the JavaScript equivalent of a time-traveling philosopher visiting fifth century BC to study with Plato.”
―Rick Waldron, JavaScript evangelist, Bocoup
About the Author
David Herman is a principal researcher at Mozilla Research. He holds a BA in computer science from Grinnell College, and an MS and PhD in computer science from Northeastern University. David serves on Ecma TC39, the committee responsible for the standardization of JavaScript.
Product details
- Publisher : Addison-Wesley Professional; 1st edition (November 26, 2012)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 240 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0321812182
- ISBN-13 : 978-0321812186
- Item Weight : 1 pounds
- Dimensions : 7 x 0.7 x 9.05 inches
-
Best Sellers Rank:
#421,371 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #96 in Bioinformatics (Books)
- #185 in JavaScript Programming (Books)
- #298 in Software Design & Engineering
- Customer Reviews:
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Customer reviews
Top reviews from the United States
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time use is often fruitless. Publishing deadlines cut books short, real life
gets in the author's way, and personal preference, well there isn't much you
can do about that. In many ways, this book is an oddity.
The voice is at ease, nothing is crammed down your throat and it doesn't feel
like he was slamming caffeinated beverages just to get it done. It is refreshing
being the recipient of an exposition that not only teaches you, but questions
you, and sets expectations of you and what you should learn. The book is broken
up into 68 different lessons, and it ends up being a perfect approach. It gives
you time to pick it up when you are free and dig as deep as you want. It also
is very humble, the sections make the point and pose the advice, and if you
don't grok it then you had better revisit it. Again, it makes for peaceful and
pleasant reading, without sacrificing the seriousness or even urgency of the
valuable points contained within.
Books like this are few and far between, at least when it comes to industrial
concerns. This book is a gem for the JavaScript technology, because it poses
the technology for thoughtful grownups instead of obsessing over the 24h
tricks, recipes of the week, and "one way to do it right", it will be a timeless
contribution that will always be valued.
Just like the author said, it is not for new learners of the language, it is for
experiences programmers who have gotten through the first 80% and now want to
master the remaining 80%.
On the Kindle it looked great, text, code, and pictures.
In my eyes, this is the missing manual that should have gone out with
ECMA-262. 5/5
JS is a very powerful and dynamic language to begin with, which without correct guidance may lead you to
fundamental mistakes, struggling with unanticipated, untraceable bugs and inefficient computing.
I find this book to be the 'missing guide' on how to bridge over these gaps and level up your knowledge of JS.
This book covers 68 principles of JavaScript programming in an intelligent, concise and clear manner.
It focuses mainly on pitfalls and best practices to avoid them by writing better, robust code.
68 items may sound a bit cumbersome, but the explanations are very clear and the reading direction is forward - rarely, if at all, do you need to hop back and forth between items to understand what you're currently reading.
The items span several topics:
* general JavaScript idioms - this is not a beginner's introduction, but more of a review over the language strengths and weaknesses
* variable scopes - best practices regarding global objects and other scope concerns
* functions - the identity of functions as traditional functions, methods and closures. how to use them properly in terms of context ('this' object)
* objects/prototypes - the identity of objects as classes/interfaces - proper prototyping and inheritance
* arrays - how to leverage standard Array API and common pitfalls
* API design - tips on how to write a concise and unambiguous API (be it for public use or your own code base)
* concurrency - guidelines for writing asynchronous functions properly and a brief description of Promises.
It's easy to tell when a subject is being explained to you by someone who understands a subject at its core and is in touch with its essence. With so many books on Javascript (and I've read a lot of them), you come away with the impression that they were written for the sake of being able to say, "I wrote a book", not really giving you better insight into the subject matter. But, those authors apparently felt they could study up on the material and phrase things better than others. Consequently, you come out knowing pretty much what you knew going in, but with just a slightly different slant on the topics.
This book, however, is a complete shift in that pattern. You'll come away possessing a greater intimacy with Javascript.
Update 7/19/2015: I'm taking away one star, not because of the anything that reflects on the author, or the quality of the content presented, but because the publisher is an inattentive dullard when it comes to making sure the formatting of the Kindle edition is right. Things like (10 + 20) + 30 come out looking like (10 2+0) 3+0. See attached screenshot. It ruins an otherwise great book. My advice to David Herman is, next time you write a book, don't choose Addison-Wesley Professional because they do no honor to an otherwise excellent book.

By Ephraim on October 9, 2014
It's easy to tell when a subject is being explained to you by someone who understands a subject at its core and is in touch with its essence. With so many books on Javascript (and I've read a lot of them), you come away with the impression that they were written for the sake of being able to say, "I wrote a book", not really giving you better insight into the subject matter. But, those authors apparently felt they could study up on the material and phrase things better than others. Consequently, you come out knowing pretty much what you knew going in, but with just a slightly different slant on the topics.
This book, however, is a complete shift in that pattern. You'll come away possessing a greater intimacy with Javascript.
Update 7/19/2015: I'm taking away one star, not because of the anything that reflects on the author, or the quality of the content presented, but because the publisher is an inattentive dullard when it comes to making sure the formatting of the Kindle edition is right. Things like (10 + 20) + 30 come out looking like (10 2+0) 3+0. See attached screenshot. It ruins an otherwise great book. My advice to David Herman is, next time you write a book, don't choose Addison-Wesley Professional because they do no honor to an otherwise excellent book.

Top reviews from other countries


Having said that, I find that this book could've been more like its C++ cousins. Some items could've been abbreviated to "never do this, and here in brief is why". Instead, many items dwell on the how, why and wherefore of the misfeature, and explain in gory detail what would go wrong and when you might still use such a feature. Item 6 "learn the limits of automatic semicolon insertion" is a prime example, which drones on for nearly 7 pages. "Just don't do it already" would've done.
But, overall, there is a large amount of goodness to be had from this book, even if the odd item could've been shortened. Recommended!



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