Mastering Javascript (Mastering)
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Spotlight Customer Reviews
Average Customer Rating: 3.47Customer Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent "Learn JavaScript" book
Comment: Well-written, easy to follow, and comprehensive. I enjoyed reading this one from cover to cover, and learned a ton of stuff: JavaScript philosophy, operators, statements, control structures, pre-defined objects & methods, plug-ins, layers, even server-side Javascript - all good stuff. Newbies: get "HTML 4.0 How-To" first, then this book, then "JavaScript: The Definitive Guide" by O'Reilly for a desk reference.
Customer Rating: 4
Summary: Good for Programmers, but So-so for novices
Comment: The book is the most comprehensive book on JavaScript I've ever come across and that's why I gave it a higher rating. The only thing I don't like about it is how it is a bit advanced and doesn't really explain everything in english. For example, Jaworski explains the charAt() method as a method that returns a string that consists of the character at the specified index to the string to which the method is applied. Huh? Speak English! He does rush the concepts that would be hard for novices to master such as basic concepts of C/C++/Java langauges such as do while(), for(), switch() functions. But he does give some great working examples so you can master it. He even covers how to use JavaScript with LiveWire in Netscape Servers. No other JavaScript book I've ever come across has as much information as this book. I recommend it if you have programmed in C/C++/Java before. Otherwise, try getting a book like JavaScript for Dummies as a primer or O'Reilly's JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
Customer Rating: 3
Summary: Nicely done, but not the best
Comment: Mastering Javascript is an excellent book for a newcomer to JavaScript, but I find that its value for updating my previous knowledge of JavaScript was much less than I expected. The book is a hefty 1100+ pages, and they avoid providing beginner's information on HTML, thankfully. Yet the language in the book is somewhat dry, even considering normal standards of writing in similar style books.
The book is good for those who already have a background in programming, and are interested in venturing into JavaScript. There are extended JavaScript examples in the book, and sample code is provided on a companion CD.
A very appreciated section on XML is included, and this was the section I focused on the most. Yet it doesn't develop it as much as I would have expected it to, considering how much it had already done with previous topics.
All in all, I would have enjoyed it more if this had been my first introduction to JavaScript. As is, it is still a good ride, though not as satisfying the second time around.