These days there are a ton of Javascript books out there. So many that it becomes difficult to sift through them all to find the one that's appropriate to your knowledge level and style of learning. Fortunately, Raffaele Cecco's Supercharged Javascript Graphics fills that role admirably.
The book runs the gamut of Javascript graphical effects, all explained in a way that's somewhere between a super dry omnibus tome that attempts to describe the language and its entire use and a 'cookbook' style super-topical volume that maybe doesn't go into as much detail as you'd like. I was delighted to find relatively in-depth approaches to things that I've never attempted, but that I still found fascinating to read about: 3D Carousels, multiple methods of scrolling, tilemaps, and animations, to name just a few. Again, these are things that, on starting this book, I had not really thought of using, but now that's I've read about them, I'm sure I'll have to work them into some Web design work.
I could discuss any number of sections of the book in detail, but as a game programmer, it only seems appropriate that I would gravitate that section of the book; in Chapter 5, the author begins the process of recreating a variation on a personal favorite game of mine, Space Invaders, called Orbit Assault. This alone is worth the price of this book, for me at least. While the game code itself is not especially complex (nor is the game itself, for that matter) stepping the reader through the entire process of creating sprites, importing game assets, and setting up the engine and user input is nicely self-contained and useful. I've personally not attempted to make a Javascript game, but after reading this, I suspect I'll give it a go, after seeing the ease with which it can be accomplished.
I've wracked my brain to think of a shortcoming of the book. Certainly Cecco's writing style is pleasant and accessible, the examples given are straightforward, useful, and never esoteric, and it's even organized nicely, flowing from one related subject to the next. I guess if I had to identify one issue, it's that at 280 pages it's a little too short. In the future I'd love to see more from the author on the same subject.
The bottom line? As with a lot of O'Reilly books, you're getting a great value, a solidly constructed book, and a well written one at that. If you're a Javascript developer, a game programmer who has interest in browser-level game creation, or if you're just interested in learning about these thing, go get yourself a copy. I doubt you'll regret it.
