Customer Reviews

JavaScript - Comprehensive, Second Edition

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I used this book for a web development class on JavaScript. I felt that it was a good book and overall I have little ill to say about it. The examples are well written and do a good job of reinforcing what you read in the chapter. You read a little then do an example, then read some more, then add to the example and so on. You don't need any Programming experience to use this book just a decent understanding of HTML.
The only criticism I could offer is that the editor should have used arrows when content is being continued on a new line for reasons of page space so that readers will know and understand (beginners can have trouble with this). It's a good book for learning the whole language from the ground up and for this reason it's worth the money. It's not an overnight crash course (if that is what you are looking for).

This isn't your typical 'cut and paste' JavaScript book. Time is spent explaining the concepts of what you are doing and why you are doing it. The book goes far beyond simple JavaSvript and covers some server-side scripting (ASP and server-side JavaScript) as well as database connectivity. It even contains a section on Java Applets. The student resource site has exercise downloads as well as powerpoint slides that cover each tutorial. I didn't find mistakes in the book. I wonder if what people perceive as mistakes are simply browser compatability issues?

The one negative I have found is that I feel that the book introduces the concept of prototypes too early. But since most JavaScript books don't even cover prototypes at all, I can't say that is much of a negative. If you find prototypes difficult you can simply browse the section over the first time through with no loss in continuity overall. This book covers beginner to intermediate material.

This Course Technology book is easy to follow. Step-by-step examples give you hands on experience in programming. Examples have illustrations to see what the results should look like. The few errors that are in the book actually help you to learn to debug your problems.

I recently finished a web development course using this book for javascript. The book is poorly edited and full of various errors. I doubt that this is the fault of the author and blame Course Technology. My progam tends to use books from Course Technology and I find them all poorly edited.