As someone else noted, the examples are in tiny type.



More seriously, I found the examples to be hard to follow because of overly-similar variable names and unnecessary complexity. Often tries to show several concepts combined in one long example instead of one short example for each.



Good concept but trying to cram too much material into too few pages.

As someone else noted, the examples are in tiny type.

More seriously, I found the examples to be hard to follow because of overly-similar variable names and unnecessary complexity. Often tries to show several concepts combined in one long example instead of one short example for each.

Good concept but trying to cram too much material into too few pages.

This is a decent book on JavaScript. The format consists of a detailed explanation of a concept or technique then example code. It's filled with many useful examples both large and small. This book has a lot of good information and probably could have benefited from being a bit longer. Many areas were covered including event handling, debugging and objects. There was also a great chapter on cascading style sheets (Probably just a setup for the next chapter on DHTML).

The code is displayed using screens shots of the code in a notepad window on the author's computer. At times it was difficult getting the whole picture of the code across multiple screen shots. It was sometimes difficult reading and typing code from these screen shots as well. I had a lot of errors because I couldn't tell the difference between a single and double quote or between a comma and period. This was more of a problem with the lengthier scripts. Also, the order of the chapters wasn't very helpful either since many concepts were used in early chapters but not explained until a later chapter.

This book is definitely more of a reference than a book on actually teaching the fundamentals of the language. Though as a reference it has far fewer pages compared to a code bible or cookbook. It's probably better for someone who wants to cut and paste code or is already fairly fluent in another programming/scripting language.

Please note that the printing issue has been fixed in all available product. Any future books shipped will have correct text and code.
Thank you.

I bought this book and it had some printing errors, but I contacted the publisher and got a new copy overnight. They have fixed the problem since so I don't believe you will find the same issue. If you like learning step-by-step, this is the book for you. Easy to follow and great for some new to Javascript. The book is well organized and explaines javascript concepts in quick concise explainations. All of the examples are easy to follow and focus on one topic at a time.

Updated:
The publisher has now provided me with a corrected copy so I would like to update on my negative remarks made previously. This an excellent book for beginning JavaScript programmers and it also makes a good reference (or cookbook) for experienced programmers. If you need a jumpstart into the world of clientside scripting this is the book I recommend. Give it 5 stars now.


[Old review: I have just received this book in its first printing of the 2nd edition.
Unfortunately the publishers have let the author down badly.
This book would have rated 5 stars from me if it did not contain bad printing errors which cause most of example code in the diagrams to be invisible.
Hold off on this one until the next corrected printing.]

On the whole, it's got some useful examples that can teach you some of the basics. However, a lot of space was wasted in trying to oversimply by using screens. The authors should have focused more on explaining the basics of javascript. Having said that, the book is clearly written and the layout is easy to follow.

JavaScript seems to drive everything these days, so you cannot create good webpages without knowing what it is and how it works. I really love these Read Less - Learn More books, for they are constructed so intelligently. They gives simply, clear instuctions that have sceenshots to show precisely what they are detailing. In a matter of a few minutes you will see the world of JavaScript in much simplier terms. Cannot recommend this book enough for novices webdesigners. A Must.

Comes with CD Rom.

If you are not a hardcore javascript programmer and you find yourself in need of a snippet of code, you can find it easily with a simple working example in this book. I am primarily an Visual Basic/ASP/ASP.NET programmer and use javascript from time to time to do simple things on the client that reduce unnecessary hits to the web server. When you don't program in a language every day you often forget many of the nuances of the language and this books effectively helps fill that gap for me. Many books fall short of being good programming references by not giving clear concise and short examples like this book does.

I bought this book after reading Joe Burns's pitiful interpretation of Javascript in his book Javascript Goodies and was very impressed. The examples are clear and easy to see. Kelly Murdock shows you the order that code should be in and you get well written working codes accompanied by good to the point explanations about what you are doing. Very well written book. A beginner could get along with it, but I must admit it to be a little advanced in some places. Still you get what you pay for.

I've bought almost every JavaScript book on the market (and I've also co-authored one: "Plug-n-Play JavaScript"). This is definitely one of the best unless you are looking for an advanced level book. This book is ideal for someone who knows the basics already but is looking to learn a little more. It's one of the few books that covers all of the most important basic concepts in JavaScript (eg. using variables, strings, loops, arrays, operators, expressions, timers, etc.) without giving you fluff. It gives you the basic building blocks to you need to get into JavaScript in a productive way. Very easy to follow and understand. I also recommend Danny Goodman's JavaScript Bible (more advanced) or the O'Reilly JavaScript book (more of a reference, but indispensable). I wish I could recommend my book but it is hopelessly outdated...

I was trying to do one particular thing with Java and this book met that need quite well. On the whole, it's got some useful examples that can teach you some of the basics. I feel, however, that a lot of space was wasted in trying to oversimply and overdescribe screens where a little more detail would have been appropriate. Having said that, the book is clearly written and the layout is easy to follow. There are better books out there, but this one is certainly not the worst of the bunch.