Rating:  - Great Beginning
This is a great book to jumpstart anyone into the world of JavaScript. This book gives the reader most of the fundamentals they will need to begin professionally writing code, assuming they will supplement this reading with more advanced resources. While it doesn't talk much about using .js files or go into detail about creating your own custom objects, it gets you where you need to be to implement those advanced topics. Theories on OO programming and writing reusable code are best gotten from a book specifically on the subject. So, it is just what it says it is...a beginner's book in JavaScript. Appreciated the fact that the book covered client and server side scripting, as well. It's very clear and easy to read. As for errors and for it not being as thorough as some people would like...hell, I didn't say it was perfect...just a step above the rest.
Rating:  - Javascript is just an Object-Based Language?
This is a good book. But I didn't like the author's statement that Javascript is (just) an Object-Based language. This maybe true - there are no full blown classes in JS. But I didn't like that he is obviously trying to overemphasize this fact. To support his view on not-OO nature of JS he only starts discussing keyword 'this' on page 473 and generally avoids discusion of OOP techniques for Javascript. And, yes, contrary to what the authors states it's possible to define your own objects (though without classes) in Javascript. I always thought that JS was very close to the definition of OOP language though it lacks inheritance, polymorphism etc. (It is not full blown OO language like C++ or Java of course). But on p.747 we read the following: "...Javascript does not really have the language features to achieve this(OOP), and is simply an object-based language. By this I mean that it can use objects, but we can't use it to define our own class of objects". This contradicts with "Javascript Objects" by Alexander Nakhimovsky and Tom Myers. On p.4 in the paragraph "Why do OOP in Javascript" we read - "...As we've just said, one CAN do OOP in Javascript" and "Javascript is well designed for Object-Oriented Programming". I can understand of course the wish of the author to make things simpler for the beginners but I wouldn't call this language Object-Based. Too offensive. JS was designed with OOP in mind but OO model is just very much simplified here.
Whether Javascript is OO or not OO language is maybe not that important. That's not my point. It is what it is. Perhaps it somewhere in between OO and structured languages but what bothers me that Paul Wilton didn't show to the end what great language Javascript is. From my point of view at least 2 additional chapters are needed to be added which would clarify how you CAN do OOP in Javascript and how you can define your own reusable objects in JS. On the positive note, Paul Wilton is obviously a very talented writer and his writing style and explanations are excellent. Good book for the beginners. Though, I'm repeating, this book is not going to give you a full impression about Javascript. I certainly would recommend to read everybody Hour 11 from "Teach yourself Javascript in 24 hours" (not a bad book at all, by the way!)or if you are brave enough "Javascript Objects" mentioned above. The OOP part was at least partially missing from this book.
Rating:  - Browser detection - The author's not qualified
Another javascript book, where the author has shown they're not up to the job, I do not own the book, having only perused it, but I've seen lots of people who have read the book and come away deeply confused about how to author scripts due to the authors insistence on "Browser Detection" based on the User or Distributor definable UserAgent strings. This is completely unsafe and should never be used. Please choose another javascript book to learn client-side javascript programming.
Rating: - Good book and a easy read!
This book is for anyone who wants to learn JavaScript. JavaScript is the language of the Web and gives you the ability to enhance your web site by creating interactive, dynamic and personalized pages. The focus in this book is on client-side scripting NOT the server side. The book assumes no prior knowledge of programming languages, and teaches you all the fundamental concepts that you need as you progress. After covering the core JavaScript language, you'll move on to learn about more advanced techniques, including Dynamic HTML, using cookies, debugging techniques, and server-side scripting with ASP. By the end of this book, you will have mastered the art of using JavaScript to create dynamic and professional-looking web pages. Even if you haven't programmed before, this text can give you the tools you need to bring your Web pages to life.
FinancialNeeds.com
Rating:  - Very Solid JS Book...
Although I imagine the reading would be difficult to someone with no prior experience to JS...I may be wrong.
My only complaint is that there is lots of info on server side JS...and most programmers don't use JS for that. He could write a seperate book just on server side JS as I've heard programmers mention the need for a book for that.
I only use JS for client side programming, and this book is a decent reference and has a good emphasis on cross browser scripting.
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