I just needed a hand to automate some forms and this book did it for me quickly and painlessly. There may be better Javascript books around but this one makes it easy. He presents the information in a simple way that you can start using right away. The biggest problem for people starting out is too much detailed explanation that you can learn later as you get the hang of the language. This book is organized in a logical and practical approach. You can start writing code almost right away and you don't have to be a rocket surgeon. The back of the book has projects, a language reference section and a good index. The proof is in the pudding; it works.

First off, ***very*** disappointed that No Starch Press has decided to cheapen the book's look and feel by reprinting the current batch with thinner paper (~24 or 28-lb. paper, a bit heavier than plain copier paper) compared to the nice "hardcover-book-quality" 60-lb. paper stated in the colophon, even though the colophon still lists the paper used as being 60-lbs. A previous printing of the book also had blue-colored text, which really added a welcome "visual comfort" that's now sadly lacking. Look at a copy from the older print run in your local public library and you'll see what I mean. It simply looks and feels like a cheaper product now.

Having said all that, I think this is a very decent book for newbies, with a fairly "traditional textbook" approach to learning JavaScript. By "fairly traditional" I mean that its pedagogy is straightforward and the material is covered in the way you'd expect (nothing like "Head First JavaScript," which I also recommend as a good companion learning tool to this title [since you really can't expect to learn with just one book, especially if you're a newbie to programming]). I especially like how an English-Italian translation program is developed in the later parts of the book, tying together the various JavaScript and Ajax concepts explored.

So I would have given the book three stars for being a good, solid if unspectacular text but the cheaper paper and lack of blue ink in addition to black makes me unhappy.

First off, ***very*** disappointed that No Starch Press has decided to cheapen the book's look and feel by reprinting the current batch with thinner paper (~24 or 28-lb. paper, a bit heavier than plain copier paper) compared to the nice "hardcover-book-quality" 60-lb. paper stated in the colophon, even though the colophon still lists the paper used as being 60-lbs. A previous printing of the book also had blue-colored text, which really added a welcome "visual comfort" that's now sadly lacking. Look at a copy from the older print run in your local public library and you'll see what I mean. It simply looks and feels like a cheaper product now.

Even worse, the typos and errata documented have not been corrected! So they cheapened the physical product while leaving intact content errors!! (And what's up with different errata observed between the book's own website and the publisher's website??? The webpage devoted to this book's errata on the publisher's site is much more extensive than what's available on the book's own website -- and they're different errata, too!!)

Having said all that, I think this is a good book for a fairly "traditional textbook" approach to learning JavaScript. By "fairly traditional" I mean that its pedagogy is straightforward and the material is covered in the way you'd expect (nothing like "Head First JavaScript," which I also recommend as a good companion learning tool to this title [since you really can't expect to learn with just one book, especially if you're a newbie to programming]). I especially like how an English-Italian translation program is developed in the later parts of the book, tying together the various JavaScript and Ajax concepts explored.

However, be aware that this book employs some older conventions of scripting which are no longer necessary (the "