Rating:  - All that you need is in this book
I'm a developer for a consulting company, and I use Javascript every day. This book has taught me everything I know about Javascript, and has made so comfortable with it, that I forget that this is a beginner's book. If you use Javascript for client-side validation of forms, this book is perfect, and if you do server side scripting, this book will also help.
Rating: - Outstanding book!!
Beginning JavaScript by Paul Wilton is a great book !!! I have 31 computer related howto/learning books on my bookshelf at the present time, on subjects such as C/C++ Programming, Windows Programming, Linux Programming, Perl, Emacs, etc. etc., so I have some experience with different writers and different styles and methods of presentation/teaching. This book may be the best of the lot. Programming Windows95 by Charles Petzold is the only one that is probably better -- but not by much.
The book is laid out in a logical, orderly, consistent manner from beginning to end. First you are presented with a concept. Secondly, you are given an example of fully functional code. Thirdly that code is fully explained, line by line. The book starts out with simple concepts and builds on them almost effortlessly. First you learn the core language, then you learn how to attach the JavaScript code to the base HTML document. Later you learn how to dynamically change the HTML document "on the fly" using JavaScript. Next,you are presented with -- interaction with the user through forms, string manipulation using regular expressions, Date objects and methods, Time, and Timers, Cookies, Dynamic HTML, Databases and server side scripting. I appreciated the fact that the examples given in the first 9 chapters work in both major browsers, so you are not immediately presented with confusing browser incompatibilities that complicate the learning process, but you are made aware of the incompatibilites later in the book when you are more able to understand them.
As an aside, if I am a "little shaky" on one of the properties' or methods' syntax, and want to go back and review the concept, the material is quite easily found. The index is good as are the appendices where the DOM's and BOM's are laid out in detail.
The book is exceptionally "meaty". Don't skip over any text or explanation of code, because you will miss myriad little tidbits of information and programming techniques that will prove most valuable.
Some of the reviewers have complained about mistakes and typos. I have found most of the mistakes to be typos and the typos to be trivial matters, easily recognized. Of the 70+ examples give that I have done and experimented with up to chapter 10, only one didn't work as laid out in the book. (ch7 GlobalFunctions.htm) And from the thorough instruction given up to that point, I was able to correct the mistake and get that example to work also.
In short, using this book, you can go from knowing nothing about JavaScript to building almost any kind of website you've ever encountered, from storefronts, to "virtual amusement parks". My hat's off to Mr. Wilton.
Rating:  - Grammar Roadblocks
The text flows well, but I found my concentration severely interrupted by myriad grammar errors. For instance, on page 24, the description of "divide and conquer" requires double-quotation marks instead of the single quotation marks because the phrase is not a quote within a quote. Also, in American English text, the period ALWAYS goes INSIDE the ending quotation mark, not outside as it appears in the book.
At the top of page 24 the sentence "One of the most important ideas that we use is of code reuse" is really poorly worded. Following a verb with a preposition is just not acceptable English syntax.
And the author needs to learn how to maintain pronoun consistency within a sentence. For example, the sentence on page 20, "Here the user (singular) can choose the number of questions that they (plural) want to answer and whether to set themselves (plural)...," is really bad. This inconsistency is repeated throughout the book.
The author might think that the reader will understand what he means, but the reader should not have to bear the burden of understanding what the author means. It is incumbent upon the author to ensure that the text is grammatically correct so the reader does not have to interpret the intent of the message.
The editor and publisher really did a poor job on this book. I will think twice about purchasing another book by this author, and I will cross WROX off my list of acceptable publishers.
Rating: - Nice reading but..........
After reading a significant amount of the book, I started to learn JavaScript (JS). The book states "Beginning" which to me implies the foundation or "core" of JS. Now that I am more versed in JS, unfortunately, the Core of JS is missed. Example: eval() is specified in the Core of JS progamming and completely absent in this book. The RegExp object is barely covered. What is NOT pointed out in his Introduction nor anywhere in the book is that JS has a Core language + distinct JS extensions, such as : web browser, client-side and server-side, Acrobat and others. While I think has style of writing is very good and the book is helpful, you should NOT rely on this book totally and must seek out other sources of information to build a true foundation in JS.
Rating: - Watch out for the errata!!
Although this is a great book, just like everyone who gave this book a good review. However, there are just tooooo many errors on spelling and syntax explanation. I gave this book 3 stars on the halfway from finish, simply because the frustration on checking the errors while studying through the book. There are currently 21 error corrections has been posted on wrox website, but there are a lot more that has not yet been notify.
Just to name a few: pg.334 on the abbreviation of UTC, pg.325 error on the explain of syntax.
Again, this is a great book! Errors are usually easy to be spot, and the correction can be easily figure out. However, Wrox can do better job then publish as such.
|
